A Joyful Pilgrimage
My Life in Community
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In the tumultuous aftermath of the First World War, thousands of young Germans defied the social mores of their parents – and the constricting influence of the established churches – in search of freedom, social equality, nature, and community. Hiking clubs were formed and work camps organized, and hundreds of rural folk schools and communes sprang up across the country. In the 1930s, Nazism swallowed this so-called Youth Movement virtually whole.
A Joyful Pilgrimage is the engaging story of a remnant that survived: the Bruderhof, a 75-year-old community that began when the author and her husband, a well-known writer and lecturer, abandoned their affluent Berlin suburb to start a new life and “venture of faith."
At first glance a memoir, A Joyful Pilgrimage is a radical call to faith and commitment against great odds. It is also a remarkable testimony to the leading of the Spirit, which, as Emmy Arnold writes, can hold together those who believe in the “daily miracle” of community “through thick and thin.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Between the two World Wars in Germany, writer and lecturer Eberhard Arnold and his wife, Emmy, founded the Bruderhof, a communal Christian fellowship that later formed a loose affiliation with the Hutterite communities. Emmy's memoir carries the reader through the Arnolds' courtship and marriage, their involvement in Germany's postwar youth movement, the founding of the Bruderhof in 1920, and the community's struggles until its expulsion from Nazi Germany in 1937. Arnold's portrait of communal life is brutally honest. Although her commitment to the ideals of such a life are clear, she does not veil the personality conflicts inherent in community life. In addition, the Bruderhof's life of voluntary poverty and hard labor, writes Arnold, led to numerous health problems in the community. Still, Arnold endured these problems because of her strong call to community. Perhaps most valuable is a short summary of the Bruderhof's theological history and vision. While Arnold's style is not eloquent, she is factual and precise in her memoir of the Bruderhof way of life.
