Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Windand the old associates of the SCM did not fail to sense the charged atmosphere.“Were there not deep divisions that must lead to a split in the SCM?” was thequestion raised in a report by one conference member. “Were not two of ourleaders, Pastor Humburg and Dr. Arnold, so completely at odds that any furtherpartnership in their work could not last for long?”Eberhard’s second lecture, titled “The Search for God by Young People Today,”was the cue that prompted a student’s question to the SCM leadership in thediscussion that followed the lecture: how far were they ready to go, and howmuch energy would they expend, in getting to know and cooperating with otherreligious movements among young people? This was to be the decisive question ofthe day for the SCM.Paul Humburg, General Secretary since April, felt forced to give an answer. “Onthe one hand Dr. Arnold is being portrayed as the only religious leader of theSCM; on the other hand, probably the majority of voices strongly demand thatthe movement not deviate to the slightest degree from its old aims and purposes.”However necessary big-heartedness might be, the SCM must maintain its old basisin questions of faith – in his capacity as General Secretary, Paul Humburg clungloyally to this view. 32 Finally, the suspicion was voiced that Eberhard had somehowshifted away from the heart of the gospel – the cross and resurrection – and hadfallen into ideas of self-redemption. The censure could not have been further fromthe truth. On November 19 Eberhard wrote to Otto Herpel, “My certainty of thepacifist and socialist ethic of Jesus means a more profound witness to the crucifiedand risen one, to the gospel of sin and grace.” Consequently he could look PaulHumburg in the eyes and assure him, “We will remain on the old basis.”What else could Eberhard say? In 1907 he, together with von Gerdtell and others,had fought staunchly for “the old basis”at a time when scriptural authenticity was atstake. Then, it had been Paul Humburg who was not decisive enough for Eberhard.The principles Eberhard had affirmed in 1907 remained wholly unchanged: tohold unconditionally to the words of Scripture, to put oneself unconditionally inthe hands of Jesus, to obey unconditionally what he commands as far as one hasrecognized this. In the twelve intervening years, however, Eberhard had acquireda broader horizon – a much broader horizon.88