In 1920, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold founded a Christian community in the Weimar Republic (Germany). That community came to be known as the Bruderhof, the German word meaning “place of brothers.”
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| Emmy & Eberhard Arnold |
The Bruderhof through the Years
The
Arnolds started their first community in the little German town of Sannerz,
about 50 miles northeast of Frankfurt. Amid their outspoken opposition to the
Nazi regime in the 1930s, Eberhard suddenly died in November 1935 at the age of
52.
Because
of their anti-Nazi stance, the Bruderhof had to leave Sannerz in 1937. They moved
briefly to Liechtenstein and then to the Cotswolds in England. Since they were Germans,
the Bruderhof faced harassment there in the early years of WWII, so they then
moved to Paraguay in South America.
In
1954, the Bruderhof moved again, this time to New York, and the number of their
communities began to expand. After moving to the U.S., they were headed by
Eberhard and Emmy’s son Johann Heinrich from 1962 until his death in 1982 and
then by grandson Johann Christoph from 1983 to 2001.
The Bruderhof Today
Currently, there are 28 Bruderhof settlements on four continents with about 3,000 members. They are all trying to live out the vision that the
Arnolds began with in 1920.
On their www.bruderhof.com website, the Bruderhof introduces their communal way of life and their
Christian vision:
Love your neighbor. Take care of each other. Share everything. Especially in these challenging times, we at the Bruderhof believe that another way of life is possible. We’re not perfect people, but we’re willing to venture everything to build a life where there are no rich or poor. Where everyone is cared for, everyone belongs, and everyone can contribute.
We’re pooling all our income, talents, and energy to take care of one another and to reach out to others. We believe that God wants to transform our world, here and now. This takes a life of discipleship, sacrifice and commitment; but when you truly love your neighbor as yourself, peace and justice become a reality. Isn’t that what Jesus came to bring for everyone?
The Bruderhof’s Plough
In 1920, Eberhard Arnold started a publishing company that has long gone by the name Plough Publishing House. In the early years of the Bruderhof, their livelihood was supported by the books written and published by Arnold.
Now located in
Waldon, New York — and on the Internet at www.plough.com —Plough has published numerous
worthwhile books, and since the summer of 2014 has also published Plough
Quarterly, an outstanding periodical. The current editor is Peter Mommsen, a
great-grandson of Eberhart and Emmy.
Two of my
favorite books published by Plough are Provocations: Spiritual Writings of
Kierkegaard (1999) and The Gospel in Tolstoy (2015), which I read
before posting my Nov. 20 blog article about Tolstoy.
I am especially
fond of the Quarterly, and early this week I received the Winter 2021 issue
(No. 26); the theme is “What are Families For?” The ecumenical nature and
diverse viewpoints presented in each Quarterly make it a valuable publication,
and I read it “from cover to cover” each time.
The delightful new
issue contains six main feature articles written by a New York Times columnist,
a female member of the Bruderhof in Australia, a Catholic Cardinal, a Haitian
woman poet, a teacher of Christian history, and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who died
just last month.
The issues of Plough
Quarterly now have 112 pages and contain many beautiful images and appealing
artwork. Thus, it affords much viewing as well as reading pleasure.
In addition, each
morning I enjoy reading Plough’s “Daily Dig,” short meditations that Plough sends
by email—and which can be subscribed to (here) for free. This week’s “digs” have included brief
passages by Karl Rahner, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Madeleine L’Engle.
Hearty congratulations to the Bruderhof for their century of faithful Christian discipleship!
I made a closely-related post on my supplementary blog four years ago, but it is some different and those who have a particular interest in the subject might want to take a look at it also. Here is the link: https://theviewfromthisseat.com/2016/12/29/following-the-plough/
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leroy. I didn't know anything (or have forgotten) about the Bruderhof. I'd like to peruse The Plough sometime, but I don't think I can take on another subscription. I'll check out the link you provided.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response, Anton--and your desire to at least check out the link to The Plough Quarterly. I certainly understand your reluctance to take on another subscription; I am trying to find ways to end subscriptions rather than to start new ones--but I do plan to keep taking The Plough.
DeleteThis morning I was happy to receive the following message in an email from Thinking Friend Andrew Bolton in England:
ReplyDelete"As a family we lived in the Bruderhof for a year and continue to be friends. Just got a Christmas card today from a family that became very good friends during our stay nearly 30 years ago. We last visited in October. Here is a link to a review I have just had published on the Bruderhof’s celebratory 100 years book, 'Another Life is Possible' - https://peacenews.info/blog/9750/another-life-possible."
Thanks for sharing these comments, Andrew. I had no idea that you had lived with the Bruderhof for a year--although I was not surprised to hear that. I wish I had known that when you were here in the KC metro area so I could have talked with you about that experience.
DeleteThe next response I received was from local Thinking Friend Marilyn Peot, who wrote,
ReplyDelete"You've done it again! A topic dear to my heart.
"Communities of every sort are rising among us...there are the Nones/Nuns also known as Seekers/Sisters -- choosing to live together in community...the established communities as the one I belong to.. Men and women are making commitments to these larger well-established communities...interfaith communities expressed by Eboo Patel...small groups cropping up who share their inner desires to deepen their spiritual awakening...and now there are those women reviving the Life style of the early Beguines. It is obvious deep desires are bringing us to deeper compassion and justice...by living from our deepest Center.
"The Spirit is a-movin' all over this land.
"Our younger folks are seeking the Real...and are put off by the traditional and conservative religions (as you already know). I went to the website you suggested...quite a profound vowed community. Have you connected with them?
"Again, thanks....you hit an inspired current call of the young."
I appreciate you reading and sharing your comments, Marilyn. Yes, there seems to be a movement toward faith communities in recent years--as there was 50+ years ago. What makes the Bruderhof special is that they have lasted for 100 years and seem to be stronger now than ever.
DeleteThen these comments from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for sharing this information about the Bruderhof.
"I had heard of the Bruderhof and the Plough, but I knew nothing about them until now. There is much to admire about the Bruderhof, although I must admit that some of their views are a bit too conservative for me. Most of the Bruderhof communities in the U S are in New York and Pennsylvania with a few outliers.
"They remind me of the Shakers, who practiced sexual segregation, and the Amana colonies in Iowa. I see that they were long associated with the Hutterites."
Yes, there are aspects of Bruderhof practice that I also find problematic, but there is so much that they do right that I have very positive feelings toward them. Even though they are conservative on some issues, they are certainly not fundamentalists, so I am happy to include them on the right side of the "radiant center."
DeleteI think their sexual practices are far more acceptable than that of the Shakers, but they do stress intimate sexual relations should be within a marriage relationship--and I don't have any problem with that.
Yes, there have been two periods in which the Bruderhof and the Hutterites were closely associated. The second period started in 1974 and ended in 1995. While I have great respect for the Hutterites, I think that if I had to choose between the two, I would quickly choose the Bruderhof.
I have a subscription to The Plough that includes all of the books that they publish during the subscription year. It's a great investment. The centennial celebration book is a real treasure of personal stories. I encourage everyone to read it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, friend whose name I do not know. If you see this, how about dropping me an email at LKSeat@gmail.com. I would like to know your name and some more about you. (Are you Leon Johnson, a Baptist missionary in Zimbabwe?)
DeleteWhen Senator Bernie Sanders was young, he spent time living on an Israeli kibbutz. Then he left, and went on about his life. Many of us have fond memories of life in college dorms, but we left those, too. Of more concern to some of us, as we get older, we tend to end up living with children, or in a nursing home. How do we balance the grace of shared living with the dynamics of changing lives that keep pulling us apart? As the former Dixie Chicks put it in one of their songs, "She needs wide open spaces/Room to make her big mistakes/She needs new faces/She knows the high stakes." For anyone wanting to hear the song, check this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dom7VlltBUc
ReplyDeleteSo, while I am delighted that communities such as Bruderhof exist, I also feel they represent a complex solution for longterm stability. Even in the wide open spaces, we need some of that community. Most of us also need some of those wide open spaces. Somewhere between the radical individualism of libertarianism, and the social restraints of full community, I feel there should be a path where we can follow our callings while loving our brothers and sisters. What we know is that the next generation never turns out quite the way their parents expected! (And that is usually for the good.)
Thanks for your comments, Craig; they are thought-provoking as usual.
DeleteOne thing that impresses me about the Bruderhof is that they have maintained a continual existence for 100 years and that the current editor of the Plough Quarterly is the great-grandson of the Arnolds who founded the community in 1920--and it seems to me that he is carrying on the family tradition in a splendid and authentic way.