Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
Though life in the mountains removed the family from the demands of their
former city life, the Arnolds were in no way cut off from the rest of the world
during their stay in Tirol. Letters from and to Germany were constant. So were
visitors. Clara Arnold, mother Elisabeth Arnold from Breslau, Monika (“Mimi”)
von Hollander, cousins from Hamburg, and a number of friends came to visit
for several days or weeks at a time. The guests rented rooms at a nearby farm
because the Pichler cottage was too small to accommodate them all. A visit meant
even more singing than usual, which was always accompanied by Emmy on the
piano. Spurred on by Mimi, Eberhard learned to take photographs and preserved
a variety of family scenes on his camera plates. The St. Bernards presented the
family with a litter in the spring of 1914. Eberhard would enjoy romping around
with the puppies, totally carefree, after which he would sit down to work on his
articles again, completely engrossed in spiritual matters. A greater contrast is hard
to imagine.
mapping out innEr land 14
In the spring and summer of 1914 Eberhard’s thoughts began turning back home
to Germany. He felt sufficiently recovered and, despite the doctors’ urgings that
he send a second winter in Tirol, he wondered if he could resume his preaching
and ministering in the fall. But first and foremost in his thoughts was a series
of articles he was writing, articles intended to summarize his spiritual insights.
Two of these appeared in print in the newspaper Auf der Warte (On Guard): “Sin
and Pride,” in May 1914, and “Soul and Spirit,” in August. Eight more articles
were printed in the Evangelical Alliance Magazine. The first of these appeared on
May 3, 1914, under the title “Inner Experiences.” It picked up almost word for
word where Living Churches had left off – with the kingdom of God. 15 The other
articles followed at two-week intervals: “Peace and Moods”; “The Inward Life”
(once again, an example of Kutter’s influence); “The Conscience: Its Origin and
Activity”; “The Conscience: Its Healing in God”; “The Inner Light”; “The Living
Word within Us”; and finally, “The Temple of the Spirit and Our Inner Heart.”
Alongside this last article, in July of 1914, the Evangelical Alliance Magazine
announced the publication of Eberhard’s book Inward Life. But everything turned
out differently.
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne,
was assassinated in Sarajevo. Then, on July 28, two days after Eberhard’s thirtyfirst
birthday, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia mobilized on July
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