Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935) studied theology, philosophy, and education at Breslau, Halle, and Erlangen, where he received
his doctorate in 1909. He became a sought-after writer, lecturer, and speaker
in his native Germany. Arnold was active in the student revival movement
sweeping the country and became secretary of the German Christian Student
Union. In 1916 he became literary director of the Furche Publishing House in
Berlin and editor of its monthly periodical. Like thousands of young Europeans,
Eberhard Arnold and his wife Emmy were disillusioned by the failure of the
establishment - especially the churches - to provide answers to the problems
facing society in the turbulent years following World War I. In 1920, out of a
desire to put into practice the teachings of Jesus, the Arnolds and their five
young children turned their backs on the privileges of middle-class life in
Berlin and moved to the small German village of Sannerz. There, with a handful
of like-minded seekers who drew inspiration from the Youth Movement, the
sixteenth-century Anabaptists, and the early Christians, they founded an
intentional community on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount. The community,
which supported itself by agriculture and a small but vibrant publishing house,
attracted thousands of visitors and eventually grew into the international
communal movement known as the Bruderhof.