Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

lovE lEttErS
Against the Wind
Chapter three
“May God give both of us truth in its fullness
and love in its entirety. Absolute
weakness and fullness of power. Deep
earnestness and unceasing joy. Firm
decision and tactful gentleness.”
from Eberhard to Emmy,
July 20, 1908.
Little is so well documented as Eberhard and Emmy’s engagement. The couple wrote
to each other daily, sometimes more than once. To the credit of the Prussian postal
service it must be said that the letters never took more than a day to arrive. Of course
the letters were always preoccupied with the joys and sorrows of two young people
very much in love. But at the same time, and sometimes preponderantly, the letters
focused upon Jesus and the couple’s relationship to him. Emmy’s mother remarked
that she had never read such odd love letters. They were full of nothing but “Jesus
alone – Amen – Hallelujah.”
If ever two people were of one heart and one soul, they were Eberhard Arnold and
Emmy von Hollander: He writes poems to her, and pleads with her to send him one
of her blond curls. And requests photos, again and again. He sends her books – parcels
of them – by authors like Finney, Torrey, Catherine Booth, Count Korff, and many
others. Emmy wants to hear about his work, the articles he’s writing – everything.
He suggests they read books from the Bible concurrently and tell each other
everything that strikes them. She is enthusiastic and picks Matthew’s Gosel as a
starting point. Within half a year they have worked through the New Tesament.
Eberhard tells her she is beautiful, and that he is enchanted by her blue eyes. She
can hardly believe her happiness. He writes about his bike tours to the Oder River,
and about his course load at the university. She advises him not to overdo it. He
advises her to get more rest and sleep. She confesses to him that she gossiped. After
a few months he becomes aware, to his horror, that two other girls had apparently
pinned their hopes on him. Emmy then begs him to avoid compromising situations,
and to let others do spiritual counseling with young girls. And the matter is closed.
He reflects on events from his earlier days, she relates incidents from hers. He keeps
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