Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough
Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough
Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough
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<strong>Against</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Wind</strong><br />
is seized by <strong>the</strong> reality of <strong>the</strong> Beatitudes. According to <strong>the</strong> report printed in <strong>the</strong><br />
SCM newsletter:<br />
Speaking with a simplicity that can come only from humble discipleship of Jesus, <strong>and</strong><br />
in a wonderful way that can derive only from <strong>the</strong> holy assurance of <strong>the</strong> message of<br />
revelation in Christ, <strong>Eberhard</strong> described this new type of person…The meetings for<br />
general discussion were nearly all occupied with questions concerning <strong>the</strong> pracical<br />
application of this type of life which now burst upon us as <strong>the</strong> way for a Christian to<br />
live out <strong>the</strong> Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Mount consistently. 12<br />
In <strong>the</strong> words of ano<strong>the</strong>r SCM member:<br />
What was it that took hold of us? It was <strong>the</strong> spirit of <strong>the</strong> Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Mount, <strong>the</strong><br />
spirit of Jesus himself. The Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Mount selled out for us <strong>the</strong> consequences<br />
of Jesus’ words: “repent <strong>and</strong> believe in <strong>the</strong> gosel.” And what are <strong>the</strong> consequences?<br />
What is new about <strong>the</strong>m? The Beatitudes became very important for us; <strong>the</strong>y<br />
showed us <strong>the</strong> characer of <strong>the</strong> citizens of <strong>the</strong> kingdom. Citizens of <strong>the</strong> kingdom are<br />
people with unconquerably joyful hearts, happy people. They are charged with <strong>the</strong><br />
explosive power of <strong>the</strong> life that flows from God. That is what <strong>the</strong>y should manifest<br />
to <strong>the</strong> world. They are to possess <strong>the</strong> earth; <strong>the</strong>y are called to serve <strong>the</strong> earth…We felt<br />
in <strong>Arnold</strong>’s words that Jesus was seeking for our souls, seeking for us to belong to him<br />
completely, for us to love in earnest – <strong>and</strong> we strove for this with all our might. 13<br />
Is any fur<strong>the</strong>r explanation necessary? In Marburg at Pentecost 1919 a miracle not<br />
unlike <strong>the</strong> first Pentecost took place: <strong>the</strong>se young men <strong>and</strong> women heard in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
own twentieth-century language <strong>the</strong> age-old, yet timeless, words of Jesus – <strong>and</strong><br />
understood <strong>the</strong>m as never before. <strong>Eberhard</strong> himself was filled with wonder: “I felt<br />
so caught up by Jesus’ spirit of absolute truth <strong>and</strong> absolute love, that I had to seak<br />
<strong>and</strong> testify from my very heart with a directness that has seldom come to me in<br />
my life.” 14 Unfortunately only a short summary of <strong>Eberhard</strong>’s bible study on <strong>the</strong><br />
Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Mount has been preserved, but even <strong>the</strong>se few lines are telling:<br />
The true <strong>and</strong> natural objective of <strong>the</strong> Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Mount is human nature in<br />
its fullest sense of representing <strong>the</strong> image of God: to be human means to love,<br />
again to love – <strong>and</strong> only to love. Therefore citizens of <strong>the</strong> kingdom surrender<br />
all legal rights. They do not resist evil by force. They reach out in love to<br />
everyone. Such a life takes place in secret <strong>and</strong> shuns all desire for recognition by<br />
<strong>the</strong> masses…The prayer of a citizen of <strong>the</strong> kingdom is characerized by clearness<br />
<strong>and</strong> few words…People who base <strong>the</strong>ir lives on communion with God in this<br />
manner know only a holy ei<strong>the</strong>r-or. They reject all wealth <strong>and</strong> possessions. They<br />
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