Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
22 Emmy Arnold, Aus unserem Leben bis 1920 [About our life before 1920], unpublished memoirs,
probably written between 1936–1937, and most likely before 1940, BA. (Though similar in content,
this document should not be confused with Emmy’s similarly titled account, Aus unserem Leben.)
23 The resective years of birth for the von Hollander children are as follows: Olga, 1882; Emmy, 1884;
Else, 1885; Heinrich, 1887; Monika, 1888.
24 Emmy Arnold, Aus unserem Leben.
ChaptEr thrEE
1 In Germany, the Baptist Church (Baptistengemeinde) is the largest of the recognized free churches (cf.
n. 5 for explanation of “free church”). Its members are baptized into the church as adults (believer’s
baptism). Though the German Baptist Church shares denominational ties to international Baptists 211
(including the Baptists of the USA), there are few similarities between them. Consequently, one should
not assume that the cultural characeristics of one necessarily apply to the other.
2 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, September 6, 1907, BA.
3 Eberhard was not the only one to draw such conclusions. About the same time a fellow fighter in the
SCM, Franz Spemann, felt forced to “abandon his cassock,” recognizing that “the churches have turned
Christianity upside down,” etc.; cf. Franz Spemann, Landeskirche oder Religiöse Freiheit [State church
or religious freedom] (Berlin: H. Walther, 1907), 9, 59, 80.
4 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, September 6, 1907, BA.
5 In Germany, the relationship between the mainstream Protesant and Catholic churches and the state
has been regulated by contracts and laws since the Reformation. The state-recognized Protesant
Church (which is virtually synonymous with the Lutheran Church) is comprised of an alliance of
seventeen independent regional churches (Landeskirchen). Both the Protesant churches of this alliance
and the Catholic churches benefit financially from “church taxes” levied and distributed by the German
government. Aside from these so-called state churches, Germany also has free churches (Freikirchen),
for which the state bears no financial responsibility. These churches exist outside of the state church
structure. Whereas membership in both Protesant and Catholic state churches is esablished through
infant baptism, members of free churches join voluntarily as adults.
6 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, September 13, 1907, BA.
7 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, October 13, 1907, BA.
8 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, November 12, 1907, BA.
9 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, January 19, 1908, BA.
10 Statement to the SCM executive committee, October 1907.
11 Eberhard Arnold to Emmy von Hollander, November 15, 1907, BA.
12 Emmy von Hollander to Eberhard Arnold, August 9, 1907, BA.
13 “Blankenburg Alliance” is another way of referring to the Evangelical Alliance from Bad Blankenburg;
cf. chap. 2, n. 19 and the related text, Bernhard Kühn and the Evangelical Alliance Magazine.
14 In July 1907, almost at the same time as the events reported from Halle, a series of meetings took
place with two Norwegian women, Dagmar Engström and Agnes Thelle Beckdahl. In those meetings
intense spiritual experiences occurred, including seaking in tongues and prophesying. In neighboring
Grossalmerode similar prayer and worship meetings began that, according to all contemporary witnesses,
proceeded from the start in an orderly and impressive manner. In Kassel, on the other hand, the evan­