Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
kingdom of God by criticizing, protesting, reforming, organizing, or by introducing
democracy, socialism, or revolution.” His methods were obvious: First of all he
shattered everything that had been important and holy to his dear colleagues
moments before. Then came the formula, totaliter aliter – God is totally different.
In a nutshell: man is insignificant. God spans the entire horizon, end to end, top
to bottom. Man can do nothing. God must do everything.
Barth summed up his pronouncement in his closing words: “What should we
do, then?…There is but one thing we can do. And even that one thing is not really
done by us. For what can a Christian do in society other than pay attention to
what God is doing?” 25
What a scene! In point of fact, however, Barth’s lecture was merely a dry run
for what would later become known as “dialectic theology.” And it is impossible
to avoid the impression that Barth had his fun in taking the wind right out of the
sails of this learned assembly. Undoubtedly it was a brilliant lecture, a rhetorical
stroke of genius. But at what a cost! He had snubbed the conference organizers and
had split the meeting. In the end he was left surrounded by a seechless, admiring
group of followers, while a helpless, bewildered group remained sidelined. Many
left the conference early. Others puzzled through to the end of the conference,
wondering what had just happened – a thunderstorm, a revelation?
Barth’s talk provoked such a strong reacion that it nearly blotted out awareness
of anything else at the conference. At times scholars have even disputed whether
Eberhard ever gave the scheduled second lecture on the same theme. But he most
certainly did – contemporary documents prove it beyond all doubt. 26 In doing so,
Eberhard showed courage. From the very outset Barth had denied all meaning
and validity to anything that had been said before him or that could be said after
him. It did not matter what arguments were now put forward. God remained
totally other and was quite likely laughing up his sleeve at these laborious efforts
to build up his kingdom or even to understand the tiniest part of it. Totaliter aliter:
for some, this concept meant the death of the religious-socialist movement in
Germany even before it was born. 27
Eberhard took the affair calmly. It is possible that he alone among the German
representatives at the conference had known about Barth’s ideas beforehand.
He had written a letter to Barth on September 13, explaining that he, Eberhard,
was to lecture on the same theme, and he had asked Barth to send him the
main ideas of his seech in advance. 28 Eberhard immediately acknowledged
Barth’s outstanding theological intellect, and he would later make repeated
86