Bruderhof History - Böcker

A dramatic true story of a man refined by fire, a Bruderhof pastor whose spiritual legacy continues to touch thousands.Can our wounds become our greatest gift? Bruderhof pastor J. Heinrich Arnold was a broken man. Yet those who knew him said they never met another like him. Some spoke of his humility and compassion; others of his frankness and earthy humor. In his presence, complete strangers poured out their darkest secrets and left transformed. Others met him with hatred.Writer Henri Nouwen called him a “prophetic voice” and wrote of how his words “touched me as a double-edged sword, calling me to choose between truth and lies, selflessness and selfishness. . . . Here was no pious, sentimental guide; every word came from experience.”Who was this extraordinary yet simple man? In this gripping and richly spiritual book, Peter Mommsen tells the dramatic true story of the grandfather he hardly knew. Read it, and you will never look at your own life the same way again.Gold Medal Winner, 2016 IPPY Book of the Year Award in Biography, Independent PublishersSilver Medal Winner, 2016 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion, Independent Book Publishers Association

What is the purpose of my life? What is friendship? What is faith? These universal questions, which are especially relevant to young adults, form the heart of this compelling story, told through real letters and diary entries.Anni, who grows from her teenage years to adulthood over the course of the book, is passionate about life and unsparing in her search for authenticity. Articulate and probing, her words have a contemporary ring as she plumbs the reality of her doubt and sense of spiritual loneliness. Then she experiences a call from God – and finds a life of purpose, faith, and joy.In Anni’s own words: “It is infinitely reassuring to know that there is an absolute truth, an infinitely great love. It is wonderful to know that one does not have to squander one’s life, one does not need to ask anymore what life is really for, what its purpose is.”Heightening the drama of this coming-of-age memoir is the historical setting in 1920s Germany, as the specter of Nazism looms ever larger over the world of Anni and her friends, giving their questions about life’s meaning a special poignancy.

In a world torn by hatred, injustice, and war, is there an answer to humanity’s quest for the good? Here is the true story of one man for whom this question was personal. Josef Ben-Eliezer was born in Germany to a Jewish family under the shadow of the Nazis. As a child he witnessed Hitler’s assault on Poland and then was forced into exile in Siberia, barely escaping with his life from starvation and disease as he made his way across southern Asia and finally arrived in the land of Israel.Faced with the horror of the Holocaust, Josef was determined to fight for the independence of his new homeland. But the inhumanity of war continued to pursue him, along with the question: Why can’t men and women live together in peace?This is a fascinating account of survival against all odds, but it is more than that: the story of one man’s search for the answers to the ultimate questions that, one way or another, face us all.

It is summer, 1940. As Hitler’s armies turn mainland Europe into a mass graveyard, his feared Luftwaffe rain bombs on England. Meanwhile, amid the green hills of the Cotswolds, a nest of “enemy aliens” has been discovered: the Bruderhof, a Christian community made up of German, Dutch, and Swiss refugees, and growing numbers of English pacifists.Having fled Nazi Germany to escape persecution, the Bruderhof had at first been welcomed in England. Now, at the height of the Battle of Britain, it is feared. Curfews and travel restrictions are imposed; nasty newspaper articles appear, and local patriots initiate a boycott.Determined to remain together as a witness for peace in a war-torn world, the little group of 300 – half of them babies and young children – looks for a new home. No country in Europe or North America will take them. And so they set off across the submarine-infested Atlantic for the jungles of Paraguay…In this gripping tale of faith tested by adversity, Emmy Barth lets us hear directly from the mothers, fathers, and children involved through their letters and diaries. Especially eloquent are the voices of the women as they faced both adventure and tragedy.

Eberhard Arnold was not afraid of the truth. A man for today’s seekers, he faced life’s essential questions head on. When he found answers, he lived them. His contemporaries dubbed him a “modern-day St. Francis.” He renounced private property and the conventional church, choosing the early Christians as his role models. A man of unwavering conviction, Arnold walked resolutely against the prevailing winds, even as Nazism engulfed Germany.Against the Wind gives flesh, blood, and personality to a man whose contagious faith sparked a movement of practical Christian community. The Bruderhof, Arnold’s legacy, carries on his commitment to integrate faith and ­action.The Bruderhof History series is a collection of books providing first-hand accounts and other primary sources on the founding and development of the Bruderhof movement.