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Bruderhof History Series
Plough Quarterly No. 41 - Freedom: UK Edition
Those who knew J. Heinrich Arnold later in life wondered at the way people were drawn to this strange man with a thick accent and easy smile. They sensed that here was someone who understood, someone they could trust. What made him different?
Eager to answer this question, Peter Mommsen set out to uncover his grandfather’s past. This is what he A boy who faced down Nazis and hunger, growing up on potatoes and radical ideas. The son of a famous intellectual, determined to drop out of school and take to the road. A young lover fleeing his homeland. A new father losing his first child. An unlikely pioneer in the heart of South America.
There, in the jungles of Paraguay, the religious community his parents had founded was twisted by legalism and power-hungry leaders into a cold and lifeless caricature. Arnold was betrayed by those he trusted most, separated from his wife and children, and exiled to a leper colony.
Often his life hung on a knife’s edge. But he knew he couldn’t die yet, because he hadn’t fulfilled his calling, or the promise he had made as a child…
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 wanted him dead.
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.
Eager to answer this question, Peter Mommsen set out to uncover his grandfather’s past. This is what he A boy who faced down Nazis and hunger, growing up on potatoes and radical ideas. The son of a famous intellectual, determined to drop out of school and take to the road. A young lover fleeing his homeland. A new father losing his first child. An unlikely pioneer in the heart of South America.
There, in the jungles of Paraguay, the religious community his parents had founded was twisted by legalism and power-hungry leaders into a cold and lifeless caricature. Arnold was betrayed by those he trusted most, separated from his wife and children, and exiled to a leper colony.
Often his life hung on a knife’s edge. But he knew he couldn’t die yet, because he hadn’t fulfilled his calling, or the promise he had made as a child…
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 wanted him dead.
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.
- GenresBiography
Paperback
First published September 7, 2004
15 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Peter Mommsen
48 books6 followersPeter Mommsen is editor of Plough Quarterly, a magazine of stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into practice: www.plough.com/quarterly
After studying classics at Harvard from 1994 to 1997, Peter left college to work on an organic monastery farm on Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua. Returning to his home town in upstate New York, he has worked as a writer, editor, and translator since 1999. Twelve years ago, he began work on a biography of his grandfather, published this year as Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold (Plough Publishing, 2015).
Peter and his wife Wilma have three children. After living seven years in Germany, their home is now in Montgomery, New York.
After studying classics at Harvard from 1994 to 1997, Peter left college to work on an organic monastery farm on Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua. Returning to his home town in upstate New York, he has worked as a writer, editor, and translator since 1999. Twelve years ago, he began work on a biography of his grandfather, published this year as Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold (Plough Publishing, 2015).
Peter and his wife Wilma have three children. After living seven years in Germany, their home is now in Montgomery, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 25, 2024
This is a well written biography of a very inspiring and remarkable man. More importantly, in telling the story of Heiner, he also tells the story of the founding and growth of the Bruderhof communities. I have long felt that us conservative Anabaptists could learn a lot from the bruderhof movement and this is a great resource for that.
September 6, 2015
This life of J. Heinrich Arnold is told by his grandson. Arnold made a vow as a young child to spread the gospel of Jesus. Through the flight from Nazi Germany to the commune pioneered in Paraguay, Arnold stayed true to his faith in spite of much physical and spiritual suffering. His personal brokenness inspired deep compassion. I would love to have met him face to face.
August 28, 2018
A very powerful book which tells the story of a man with a hunger for Christ and the courage to follow him. In particular Arnold is inspired by the faith of his father Eberhard Arnold. At key points in his life it is those memories of what his father would have said or done that make the difference.
August 2, 2015
Courage Comfort and Peace of Mind. This book unexpectedly gave me the courage to face a huge challenge. Life changing. This is why I read!
December 8, 2015
Why? Why this book? There is nothing honorable about the life of Heinrich Arnold. His was a wasted life.
January 31, 2021
A first rate biography. I've been fascinated by the Bruderhof for some years. For Christmas my wife gave me several credits on a site called Paperback Swap and I actually received this book and two of Eberhard Arnold's books from Bruderhof members (one even came from one of Eberhard's grandchildren, mentioned in the acknowledgements of this book...a pretty cool thing I wasn't at all expecting).
To start with, what a tough life. Brutal. "Broken" is very appropriate. One of the still confusing parts about this entire movement is that the founder, Eberhard, seems to be on the edge of being a classical German liberal Christian. But more of a radical than most. A typical American from either an evangelical or catholic background would read the words of Eberhard (or of Moltmann or the Niebuhr brothers or von Harnack or Bultmann or Tillich or Schweizer, etc. etc.) and nod in agreement and then come across some passage like "the Kingdom of God is the eschatological imperative under which all the theo-political hermeneutics must submit and before which the individual will find himself consumed in the radical monotheism of the present apocalypse" and be like...hmmm...not sure what any of that means. And most of those guys probably didn't either and their personal lives kind of show it made no difference on them since they all had cushy professorships and got to say fake stuff like that and collect a state pension. But Arnold, whatever he believed, really believed it.
A skeptical reader might see this book as another sad retelling of a religiously zealous father imposing psychological burdens on his children, who in turn pass it on to their children. And that the father built a cult that his descendants continue to run to this day. And all the elements of that story exist. As best I can tell the current leaders of the Bruderhof are still direct descendants of Ebehard. The author is a great-grandson, the lead pastor is a great grandson, a lot of the books Plough publishes are either Eberhard's or Heinrich's.
BUT! I don't think it's a cult. I think the community in Paraguay was a cult. Anytime you have huts on the edge of the commune and are making families break apart just to stay obedient to a manipulative leader, then you're definitely in a cult. However, the community Heinrich oversaw seems to be a genuinely humane enterprise.
This Heinrich guy, at least as his grandson portrays him, seems like one of the few people in history who could have the lives of a thousand people entrusted to him and not become a creepy cult leader. They seem to have pulled the whole "live like Jesus" thing off and now are an admirable community.
None of that has anything to do with the book. Most people I assume who read this are curious about the Bruderhof, but even if you've never heard of them it's definitely worth a read!
To start with, what a tough life. Brutal. "Broken" is very appropriate. One of the still confusing parts about this entire movement is that the founder, Eberhard, seems to be on the edge of being a classical German liberal Christian. But more of a radical than most. A typical American from either an evangelical or catholic background would read the words of Eberhard (or of Moltmann or the Niebuhr brothers or von Harnack or Bultmann or Tillich or Schweizer, etc. etc.) and nod in agreement and then come across some passage like "the Kingdom of God is the eschatological imperative under which all the theo-political hermeneutics must submit and before which the individual will find himself consumed in the radical monotheism of the present apocalypse" and be like...hmmm...not sure what any of that means. And most of those guys probably didn't either and their personal lives kind of show it made no difference on them since they all had cushy professorships and got to say fake stuff like that and collect a state pension. But Arnold, whatever he believed, really believed it.
A skeptical reader might see this book as another sad retelling of a religiously zealous father imposing psychological burdens on his children, who in turn pass it on to their children. And that the father built a cult that his descendants continue to run to this day. And all the elements of that story exist. As best I can tell the current leaders of the Bruderhof are still direct descendants of Ebehard. The author is a great-grandson, the lead pastor is a great grandson, a lot of the books Plough publishes are either Eberhard's or Heinrich's.
BUT! I don't think it's a cult. I think the community in Paraguay was a cult. Anytime you have huts on the edge of the commune and are making families break apart just to stay obedient to a manipulative leader, then you're definitely in a cult. However, the community Heinrich oversaw seems to be a genuinely humane enterprise.
This Heinrich guy, at least as his grandson portrays him, seems like one of the few people in history who could have the lives of a thousand people entrusted to him and not become a creepy cult leader. They seem to have pulled the whole "live like Jesus" thing off and now are an admirable community.
None of that has anything to do with the book. Most people I assume who read this are curious about the Bruderhof, but even if you've never heard of them it's definitely worth a read!
December 11, 2022
Easy-to-read account of the life of Heini Arnold, son of the founder of the Bruderhof, Eberhard Arnold. Heini became the leader of the movement after it was established in the US in the fifties and sixties. The book traces his childhood in rural Germany, through conflicts with the Nazis that eventually led to the group being ousted from the country, his short time in England, the difficulties of life in Paraguay (with children dying, health and economic issues, and leadership struggles), new leads in the US, and reconciliation attempts in old age.
The book is not a history of the Bruderhof nor a critical biography. The first is certainly touched on, even if it's not the book's focus, and readers looking for the second will have to make do with Mommsen's list of sources consulted. Nonetheless, the story provides a great picture of Heini's life in God's call and grace are at the forefront, and it will be of interest to a broad audience.
The book is not a history of the Bruderhof nor a critical biography. The first is certainly touched on, even if it's not the book's focus, and readers looking for the second will have to make do with Mommsen's list of sources consulted. Nonetheless, the story provides a great picture of Heini's life in God's call and grace are at the forefront, and it will be of interest to a broad audience.
July 2, 2021
An in-depth, thoroughly researched book of the true highs and lows of the life of Heinrich Arnold, the son of Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, who started a Christian communal movement in the inter-war period of Germany. Their subsequent flight to Paraguay led to a bizarre and tragic shift in the movement that would not be rectified quickly or painlessly. It is a story mostly of one man, though the story of the movement shines through alongside his, equal parts tragedy and victory.
January 19, 2024
A well told, convicting biography of Heiner Arnold, a leader in the Bruderhof Community. Always a passion to forgive, think the best of others, and to love as Jesus loves. I don’t feel I had a great understanding of the Bruderhof’s theology from this book, but I don’t think that was the point. I do feel impressed by his passion to do all he could to listen and to love.
February 2, 2020
A moving and fascinating study in human nature, reveals how idealism alone ultimately does not work in our fallen world.
December 1, 2021
I was blown away by this book the first time I read it (I think in 2011).
March 27, 2023
There were parts of this book that were really slow, but overall I loved it.
November 18, 2015
To condense this whole book into one thought I would say that it is a story about a humble, spiritual man, who creates a life of love and beauty only to be stalled by men of ambition and manipulation. And yet his vision is carried on over generations and decades. This true story of a devoted Christian family establishing, and trying to maintain, communal life is fascinating. J. Heinrich Arnold is the main focus of the story even thought the dedication to communal living and the original commune was begun by his father Eberhard Arnold in Germany in 1919. The author is the grandson of J. Heinrich, and though he speculates on much of the dialog and of course must rely on the memories and writings of his elders, the story holds together as a spiritual journey and a look into a type of living that deserves respect.
I have always been in wonder about how a commune is established and how so many people can make it work. The Arnold's community was originally and continued to be organized around farming and publishing. The founders were college educated theologians and they accepted everyone not just Christians but Hindu, Jews, and atheists as well. No one was turned away who truthfully wanted to live spiritually if willing to contribute to the community. The society was based on the concept of religious socialism which they patterned after the Quakers. Page 145 probably has the best description of who it was that flocked to the Arnold communities, “... communists, socialists, agnostics, atheists, and others who were fed up with the empty promises of the churchianity.”
There are many stories of working faith, but also the trials of fund raising, the complexities of governing a flock and a village, and of human failings and power struggles. The Commune had to leave Germany out of fear for their members lives and threats of arrest of the leaders in the 1930s. The scenes of the Nazi raids and arrests were frighteningly portrayed. When they fled Germany they eventually had successful communities in England, Paraguay, and New York. Always the goal was to be inclusive, show the love of God, help your neighbor, and instill in the children reverence for nature, honesty, chivalry, bravery, and generosity. The love stories of Eberhard and Heinrich with their wives and families are wonderful also. Never did I imagine that living and and running a commune would be so complicated and I had to wonder if every commune whether political or religious suffers the same problems. My guess would be “yes” or there would be more surviving communes today.
This is a great book to see inside the workings of a such a community but also to feel how groups of like-minded people can be committed to a different way of life. The titles of the chapters are delightfully related to the content such as “On the Road” when the community is moving and “Liberation” when in the 1960s Heiner is in the United States and falls in love with the country's fight for civil rights. He marches with Martin Luther King and yet is alarmed about some things he sees that had been the downfall of Germany such as militarism, economic oppression, and racism. As I thought about that chapter I had to think about how we have come so far since the 60s and yet in some respects things are still the same. Probably not a book for everyone, but who can judge what is best for all? It is apparent that this beloved grandson reveres his family and his book is a true loving portrait of an extended faithful group. It was a good excursion with the Arnolds over nine decades and several continents.
I have always been in wonder about how a commune is established and how so many people can make it work. The Arnold's community was originally and continued to be organized around farming and publishing. The founders were college educated theologians and they accepted everyone not just Christians but Hindu, Jews, and atheists as well. No one was turned away who truthfully wanted to live spiritually if willing to contribute to the community. The society was based on the concept of religious socialism which they patterned after the Quakers. Page 145 probably has the best description of who it was that flocked to the Arnold communities, “... communists, socialists, agnostics, atheists, and others who were fed up with the empty promises of the churchianity.”
There are many stories of working faith, but also the trials of fund raising, the complexities of governing a flock and a village, and of human failings and power struggles. The Commune had to leave Germany out of fear for their members lives and threats of arrest of the leaders in the 1930s. The scenes of the Nazi raids and arrests were frighteningly portrayed. When they fled Germany they eventually had successful communities in England, Paraguay, and New York. Always the goal was to be inclusive, show the love of God, help your neighbor, and instill in the children reverence for nature, honesty, chivalry, bravery, and generosity. The love stories of Eberhard and Heinrich with their wives and families are wonderful also. Never did I imagine that living and and running a commune would be so complicated and I had to wonder if every commune whether political or religious suffers the same problems. My guess would be “yes” or there would be more surviving communes today.
This is a great book to see inside the workings of a such a community but also to feel how groups of like-minded people can be committed to a different way of life. The titles of the chapters are delightfully related to the content such as “On the Road” when the community is moving and “Liberation” when in the 1960s Heiner is in the United States and falls in love with the country's fight for civil rights. He marches with Martin Luther King and yet is alarmed about some things he sees that had been the downfall of Germany such as militarism, economic oppression, and racism. As I thought about that chapter I had to think about how we have come so far since the 60s and yet in some respects things are still the same. Probably not a book for everyone, but who can judge what is best for all? It is apparent that this beloved grandson reveres his family and his book is a true loving portrait of an extended faithful group. It was a good excursion with the Arnolds over nine decades and several continents.
August 5, 2016
Rod Dreher has become the champion of Christians in the U.S. building "Benedict Options" in the face of American culture's increasingly hostile stance toward traditional Christian faith. Dreher has written and spoken extensively on the Benedict Option over the past two years, and is writing a book, which will be released in March 2016.
Dreher insists that embracing the Benedict Option--which undoubtedly will be expressed in a variety of forms by different communities of believers--does not mean withdrawing from the world, but it does mean, "we must withdraw behind some communal boundaries not for the sake of our own purity, but so we can first become who God wants us to be, precisely for the sake of the world." (Benedict Option FAQ)
It will be interesting to see in his upcoming book how Dreher recommends drawing those communal boundaries. Based on what Dreher has written thus far about the Benedict Option, I doubt he will advocate that intentional Christian communities renounce private property and share everything in common.
But, from the very beginning of Christian communities, there have been those who have embarked on just that kind of radical communal life:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." (Acts 2:44-45)
The Bruderhof are Christians who have been living this way in various communities for nearly a century. The man who brought Bruderhof communities in to the U.S. in 1954 was Heinrich Arnold. His grandson, Peter Mommsen, tells his story in Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold.
Arnold's story is fascinating, inspiring, and to my thinking, heartbreaking. The young Heinrich Arnold is idealistic, sensitive, and driven by a sense of God's calling and a devotion to his father, Eberhard Arnold, the founder of the Bruderhof. Thirty years later, Heinrich Arnold has experienced the joys of living in community. But, he has also suffered the dictatorial, devious, legalistic and cruel torment of fellow leaders of the community and those who cooperated with them to isolate and punish Arnold on the numerous occasions when Arnold crossed them.
Mommsen presents the elder Heinrich Arnold as having emerged from this crucible of abuse broken, both physically and emotionally. Out of this suffering God molded Arnold into a compassionate Christ-like leader full of empathy for the hurting and the marginalized. Arnold's love for the Bruderhof then compelled him in the 1950s and early 1960s to accept the role of single "elder" and to drastically reorganize the communities in order to rescue them from the legalism and dysfunction that began to plague them after his father's death in 1935.
Was Heinrich Arnold the man on the white horse portrayed by Mommsen? Who knows. Some of those who were hurt in the great reorganization didn't think so.
Regardless, the story of Arnold and the Bruderhof is a sobering reminder of the difficulties and dangers of equating following Jesus with selling all we have and living together in community. Good intentions are not enough to keep sinners--even redeemed sinners--from brutally hurting themselves and one another.
Dreher insists that embracing the Benedict Option--which undoubtedly will be expressed in a variety of forms by different communities of believers--does not mean withdrawing from the world, but it does mean, "we must withdraw behind some communal boundaries not for the sake of our own purity, but so we can first become who God wants us to be, precisely for the sake of the world." (Benedict Option FAQ)
It will be interesting to see in his upcoming book how Dreher recommends drawing those communal boundaries. Based on what Dreher has written thus far about the Benedict Option, I doubt he will advocate that intentional Christian communities renounce private property and share everything in common.
But, from the very beginning of Christian communities, there have been those who have embarked on just that kind of radical communal life:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." (Acts 2:44-45)
The Bruderhof are Christians who have been living this way in various communities for nearly a century. The man who brought Bruderhof communities in to the U.S. in 1954 was Heinrich Arnold. His grandson, Peter Mommsen, tells his story in Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold.
Arnold's story is fascinating, inspiring, and to my thinking, heartbreaking. The young Heinrich Arnold is idealistic, sensitive, and driven by a sense of God's calling and a devotion to his father, Eberhard Arnold, the founder of the Bruderhof. Thirty years later, Heinrich Arnold has experienced the joys of living in community. But, he has also suffered the dictatorial, devious, legalistic and cruel torment of fellow leaders of the community and those who cooperated with them to isolate and punish Arnold on the numerous occasions when Arnold crossed them.
Mommsen presents the elder Heinrich Arnold as having emerged from this crucible of abuse broken, both physically and emotionally. Out of this suffering God molded Arnold into a compassionate Christ-like leader full of empathy for the hurting and the marginalized. Arnold's love for the Bruderhof then compelled him in the 1950s and early 1960s to accept the role of single "elder" and to drastically reorganize the communities in order to rescue them from the legalism and dysfunction that began to plague them after his father's death in 1935.
Was Heinrich Arnold the man on the white horse portrayed by Mommsen? Who knows. Some of those who were hurt in the great reorganization didn't think so.
Regardless, the story of Arnold and the Bruderhof is a sobering reminder of the difficulties and dangers of equating following Jesus with selling all we have and living together in community. Good intentions are not enough to keep sinners--even redeemed sinners--from brutally hurting themselves and one another.
September 23, 2012
다벨에 방문했을 때, 브루더호프가 스스로의 역사를 어떻게 정리하고 있는 지 궁금했다. 공동체 아이들이 학교에서 세계사를 배운 이후에 공동체 역사를 수업시간에 배운다고 들었던 터였다. 나의 호스트 가족이 조 였는데, 1960년대에 공동체에 큰 위기가 있었던 이야기를 해 주었다. power seeking, 권력에 대한 욕구가 공동체가 깨지고 1/3정도 되는 이들이 공동체를 떠나가는 위기의 원인이었다. 방문이 짧아 다 들을 시간이 없었는데, 이 책을 선물해 주었다.
능력과 성공의 이야기가 아닌, 공동체를 이루고자 했던 이들이 어떤 실패를 겪어 왔었는지에 대한 이야기이다. 그 정신을 되새김질 하며 살고 있는 후손들을 만나고 와서, 또 그런 이들과 함께 살고 있어서 그냥 신앙 전기로 읽히지는 않았다. '긍정의 힘'이 말하고 있지 않은, 하지만 전도서의 기자가 말하고 있는 '실패의 신앙'이다.
능력과 성공의 이야기가 아닌, 공동체를 이루고자 했던 이들이 어떤 실패를 겪어 왔었는지에 대한 이야기이다. 그 정신을 되새김질 하며 살고 있는 후손들을 만나고 와서, 또 그런 이들과 함께 살고 있어서 그냥 신앙 전기로 읽히지는 않았다. '긍정의 힘'이 말하고 있지 않은, 하지만 전도서의 기자가 말하고 있는 '실패의 신앙'이다.
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July 24, 2015A deep and powerful biography, but much more than that. The story of suffering and redemption, betrayal and forgiveness, and most of all the love of Christ in one man's heart.
September 18, 2016
Loved this book. Heiner is the authentic kind human that takes the time with you. Opened up a great world to me. purity . The kingdom of God is something you do together. Community. Loved it!
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November 26, 2017Amazing man, a joy to read of his life.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews