Bruderhof Communities

The Bruderhof Communities (Church Communities International, previously known as Society of Brothers or the Hutterian Society of Brothers) is an Anabaptist community founded by Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935) in the village of Sannerz in Germany in 1920.

The Bruderhof’s origins can be traced to 1907, when Arnold and his fiancée Emmy von Hollander decided to be baptized as adults, thus breaking away from the established Church. Raised as a Lutheran, Arnold studied theology and philosophy. What he wrote in a letter to Emmy in September 1907 is an unwitting echo of the ideas of the first Anabaptists of 1525: “On Tuesday I’ll briefly inform our parents of my conviction, according to which I must a) be baptized as a believer, since infant baptism is in opposition to what is meant biblically and is therefore not baptism; b) withdraw from the established church, since I consider it dishonest through and through and contrary to the spirit of the Bible; c) embrace as my ideal church communities of believing, baptized Christians who use church discipline and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.”

Arnold came to his conviction on pacifism through the horrors of the First World War. He came to believe, too, that war is a direct result of selfishness, of the need to defend one’s property, and therefore that the private ownership of property is opposed to God’s will. In June 1920, he and his wife and children and Emmy’s sister Else von Hollander sold their home and moved into a villa in Sannerz. Here they formed a community with any who wished to join them. They ran a farm and a publishing house and took in foster children.

The community grew slowly, and in 1926 they purchased a nearby neglected farm at [[Neuhof, in the district of Fulda, which they named “Bruderhof,” a conscious imitation of the historic Hutterite term known to Arnold from his study of the 16th-century Hutterites. Inspired by their history (particularly their martyrs), and thrilled by the fact that this group was still living in community after four hundred years, he established contact with the American Hutterites in 1928. He spent a year visiting them from 1930 to 1931 and in December 1930 was ordained a Hutterite minister at the Stand-Off Colony near Macleod, Alberta. He was commissioned to lead the new German Bruderhof group as a part of the ancient Hutterite brotherhood. Although the union between Bruderhof Communities and the Hutterian Brethren Church broken more than once, from 1930 on the Bruderhof Communities have shared the Hutterian tenets of faith – the same baptism and marriage vows, the same ordination of ministers, and the same practice of church discipline – which go back to Peter Riedemann in the 16th century.

The Almbruderhof was established in the principality of Liechtenstein in 1934 as a refuge for the school-age children when the Nazi government withdrew support of the Rhön Bruderhof’s private school. The following year, when a military draft was introduced in Germany, the young men too escaped to Liechtenstein. Eberhard Arnold died on November 22, 1935. The Rhön Bruderhof was dissolved by the National Socialist government 1937. Two Hutterian elders, David Hofer from James Valley, Manitoba, and Michael Waldner from Bon Homme, South Dakota, were visiting at that time, and their presence probably saved the lives of Bruderhof members. The Bruderhof members expelled from Germany were welcomed by Mennonites in Holland until they were able to move to England. The Cotswold Bruderhof, founded in England in 1936, became the home of the ongoing movement. There was great interested in an alternative way of life among pacifist circles in England before the outbreak of World War II, and the Bruderhof movement doubled in size during the four years there. However, with the outbreak of international hostilities, the high German population of this pacifist group became suspect. Rather than allowing their German members to be interned, the entire Bruderhof group migrated to Paraguay in South America, thanks to the help of Orie Miller and the Mennonite Central Committee. In Primavera, near the Mennonite colony of Friesland, about 80 miles northeast of Asunción, they established three communities, Isla Margarita, Loma Hoby, and Ibate. The group was incorporated under the name "Sociedad de Hermanos."

Meanwhile there was continued interest in the Bruderhof in England, and the representatives who had remained to close the Cotswold Bruderhof decided to start a new settlement at Wheathill in Shropshire.

In 1954 the first American Bruderhof was begun: Woodcrest in Rifton, New York, about 90 miles (80 km) north of New York City. Oak Lake (later called New Meadow Run) was established in 1957 in Farmington, Pennsylvania, and in 1958 a third American Bruderhof was founded: Evergreen (later called Deer Spring) in Norfolk, Connecticut. In the late 1950s, too, the Bruderhof returned to Germany at the Sinntal Bruderhof.

In 1959 – 1961, the Bruderhof movement experienced a spiritual crisis, leading to the closing of all centers in South America, Germany, and England (except for Bulstrode, begun in 1958, which closed in 1966). Darvell, in Robertsbridge, England, was begun in 1971, and several additional Bruderhofs have been established since that time. In 1999 Danthonia was begun in Australia. Starting in December 2003, the Bruderhof has set up small urban communities in various cities, some closing after a few months or years and others lasting longer. In 2002 they returned to the original villa in Sannerz, and in 2010 a small center was reestablished in Paraguay, in Asuncion.

In 1962, Johann Heinrich Arnold was appointed bishop for the whole Bruderhof movement. After his death in 1982, Johann Christoph Arnold became bishop. J.C. Arnold retired in 2001, and the brotherhood members appointed Richard Scott in his place; Arnold continued serving in an advisory capacity until his death in 2017. Richard Scott died in 2011, and Paul Winter has continued as the current bishop.

Relationship with the Hutterites When Eberhard Arnold was incorporated into the Hutterian Church in December 1930 he expressed that he wanted to join the original Hutterian Church of Jacob Hutter’s time rather than what it had become by 1930: “I am of the opinion that our turning to Hutterianism means that we should become like the early Hutterites. We don’t want to become Hutterites in the sense of 1692; we don’t want to become Hutterites in the sense of 1930–1931; but we do want to become Hutterian in the sense of 1529–1589, in the sense of these first fifty years. With this the Hutterites are in agreement.” Unfortunately, over the decades the relationship between the two groups has gone through times of tension and conflict.

In 1955 members of the Forest River Hutterian colony in North Dakota wished for a closer association with the Bruderhof. Due largely to differences in general outlook – the Hutterites depending on tradition while the Bruderhof Communities were more spontaneous and outward-looking – this led to a complete break. In January 1974 J. Heinrich Arnold with several other Bruderhof ministers, working with Hutterite elder Jacob Kleinsasser, was able to reestablish unity.

For the next twenty years the two groups worked together on various projects, such as helping one another build communities and mission trips to various parts of the world. There were joint baptisms and several marriages between the “western” and “eastern” Hutterites (named thus because the Bruderhof was situated on the US east coast). But in 1994 a rupture again took place with significant bitterness on both sides, again over cultural and theological differences.

Publishing Publishing books and a magazine has been part of the Bruderhof’s mission since its beginning. Eberhard Arnold was editor of a periodical Das neue Werk and the Eberhard Arnold Verlag published, among other things, a series of books (Quellen) of Christian witnesses through the centuries. The Plough Publishing House was established at the Cotswold Bruderhof in 1938, with a quarterly The Plough. It was reestablished by the Woodcrest Service Committee in the 1960s; during the years of a military draft in the United States, the Plough Publishing House was part of an alternative service program recognized by Selective Service. In 2014 Plough was set up at the Fox Hill Bruderhof in Walden, NY, with a reformatted Plough Quarterly. Plough has been committed to publishing Hutterian writings, significantly a German edition of Peter Riedemann's Rechenschaft in 1938,and an English translation of the Hutterian Chronicle in 1988. Business Bruderhof members run a variety of businesses that provide income: Community Playthings was developed during the 1950s and soon became the Bruderhof's main source of income.[34] Community Playthings designs and manufactures quality wooden classroom and play environments for schools and daycare centers. The business is run by the communities in the United States[35] and United Kingdom.[36] Rifton Equipment, run by some of the American communities, sells mobility and rehabilitation equipment for disabled adults and children. It was founded in 1977.[37] Danthonia Designs is the business that supports the Australian Bruderhofs. It specializes in hand-carved three-dimensional signage and was founded in 2001.[13] List of Bruderhofs (Some centers that have existed only a short time are not included in the list below. Those marked with an asterisk are small, urban communities.) Name Location Dates Sannerz Sannerz, Germany 1920 – 1927 2002 - Rhön Post Neuhof, Kreis Fulda, Germany 1927 - 1937 Alm Silum, Liechtenstein 1934 - 1938 Cotswold Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, England 1936 - 1941 Oaksey Swindon, Wiltshire, England 1939 - 1940 Wheathill Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England 1942 - 1961 Isla Margarita, Primavera Paraguay 1941 - 1961 Loma Hoby, Primavera Paraguay 1942 - 1960 Ibate, Primavera Paraguay 1947 - 1961 El Arado Montevideo, Uruguay 1952 - 1960 Woodcrest Rifton, NY, USA 1954 - Sinntal Bad Brückenau, Bavaria, Germany 1955 - 1961 New Meadow Run (Oak Lake) Farmington, PA, USA 1957 - Deer Spring (Evergreen) Norfolk, CT, USA 1958 - 1998 Bulstrode Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England 1958 - 1966 Darvell Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England 1971 - Maple Ridge (Pleasant View) Ulster Park, NY, USA 1985 - Platte Clove Elka Park, NY, USA 1990 - Spring Valley Farmington, PA, USA 1990 - Beech Grove Nonington, Kent, England 1995 - Fox Hill Montgomery, NY, USA 1998 - Michaelshof Birnbach, Germany 1988 - 1995 Palmgrove Nigeria 1993 - 1994 Danthonia Inverell, Australia 1999 - Bellvale Chester, NY, USA 2001 - Holzland Bad Klosterlausnitz, Germany 2004 - Kingston* Kingston, NY 2004 - London* London, England 2005 - Inverell Inverall, NSW, Australia 2005 - Armidale Armidale, NSW, Australia 2005 - Morgantown* West Virginia, USA 2006 - Bayboro St. Petersburg, FL, USA 2006 - Harlem* Harlem, NY, USA 2006 - Parkview* Albany, NY, USA 2006 Villa Primavera Asuncion, Paraguay 2010 Mount Community Esopus, NY, USA 2012

The Rhönbruderhof was closed in 1937 by eviction and expulsion from Germany by the National Socialist government who would not tolerate this "communistic" movement. A temporary Bruderhof (Almbruderhof) was established in the principality of Liechtenstein, at Silum, Post Triesenberg, in 1933-1938. The Cotswold Bruderhof, established in 1936 at Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, England, became the home of the ongoing movement, which had 250 souls by 1938, when a second Bruderhof was established (1939) at Oaksey nearby. The further growth of the brotherhood was interrupted by World War II, and the entire group, except several persons left behind to liquidate the property, migrated to Paraguay with the help of the Mennonite Central Committee in 1940-1941 under heavy pressure from the British government, who feared they would aid the Germans in a possible invasion. Attempts to secure permission to settle in the United States and Canada near the Hutterite colonies there failed. Meanwhile, the representatives who remained in England were able in 1942 to start a new Bruderhof at Wheathill in Shropshire, address Bromdon, Bridgnorth, which in 1959 had a population of 110. A second Bruderhof was founded in Bulstrode, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, in 1958, which had a population of about 100 in 1959.

In Paraguay meanwhile the Bruderhof settlement called Primavera, established in 1941, about 80 miles northeast of Asunción, had grown by 1959 to three village communities with a population of over 650, and a "Bruderhof House" in Asunción. The group was incorporated under the name "Sociedad de Hermanos." In 1954 a small Bruderhof was established at El Arado, Montevideo, Uruguay, which had a population of 60 in 1959.

In 1954 a Bruderhof was established at Woodcrest, Rifton, New York state, about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City, which had grown to 230 (70 members, 115 children, the rest guests) by 1959. A second American Bruderhof, Oak Lake, was established in 1957 at Farmington, near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, which had a population of 150 in 1959 (50 members, 75 children). In 1958 a third American Bruderhof was established at Evergreen, Norfolk, Connecticut, which had a population of 60 in 1959 (20 members, 30 children). The Forest River Bruderhof, near Fordville, North Dakota, which had separated from the old Hutterites to join the Society of Brothers in 1955, was discontinued in 1957. The newest European Bruderhof was Sinntal, established in 1955 at Bad Brückenau, northeast of Frankfurt, near the East Zone border. In 1959 it had a population of some 60. In 1959 the Society had a total population of some 1,500 in all its communities, of whom some 600 were regular or novice members. The name "community" supplanted "Bruderhof" everywhere except in Germany. However, all the communities were completely communal in organization and pattern of life. After the 1955 break, it became necessary to close the Bruderhofs in South American and Europe, and to consolidate in the Eastern United States.

Daughter communities founded in England and North America were known as Society of Brothers until the time of reuniting with the Hutterians in 1974. From then on the name Hutterian Society of Brothers was used until 1985, when it was decided to be identified simply as Hutterian Brethren, reflecting their unity with the older Hutterian Bruderhofs in the western United States, Canada, and Japan. After the second rupture with the old Hutterites the group was known as Bruderhof Communities until about 2007.

The publishing agency of the group was the Plough Publishing House (originally at Bromdon, England [Wheathill Bruderhof], established in 1938, later located at Rifton, New York). The group organ was a quarterly journal, The Plough, first number March 1938, discontinued with volume III, no.1 (spring of 1940), resumed in the spring of 1953, with New Series volume I, no.1. It discontinued in 1999. It had parallel editions in the German (Der Pflug), Spanish (El Arado), and Esperanto (La Pugilo). Prior to 1938 three Bruderhof Letters were issued (September 1936, Christmas 1936, and August 1937). Pamphlets were also issued annually. Plough Publishing House no longer printed books in 2005, though electronic publications remained available from the Plough website.

The Society of Brothers was a Christian brotherhood which held all property in common, regarded all work as of equal worth, upheld a radical peace testimony with complete nonparticipation in war and military service, rejected all swearing of oaths, litigation, and office-holding, practiced simplicity of life, was governed by unanimous consent of the members in each community, and based membership on unity of faith in Christ regardless of race, class, or nationality. Candidates for membership were received on probation for a variable period, after which they were received through baptism by vote of the group on profession of adherence to the principles of the brotherhood. All property was surrendered to the group upon reception into membership.

In the late 1980s and 1990s disaffected former members of the Bruderhof Communities began a newsletter (KIT [Keep in Touch]), which in conjunction with the disruption in relationship with the old Hutterites, generated considerable negative publicity for the Bruderhof Communities. During this period the Bruderhof Communities did undertake litigation against opponents, a departure from earlier teachings.

Bibliography

Author(s)	Harold S., Eberhard C. H. Arnold Bender
	Sam Steiner
Date Published	February 2009

Arnold, Eberhard. The Hutterian Brothers. Four Centuries of Common Life and Work. Ashton Keynes, 1940.

Arnold, Eberhard. From His Life and Writings, A Witness to Community. Bromdon, 1953.

Arnold, Emmy. Torches Together: The Beginning and Early Years of the Bruderhof Communities, 2nd. ed. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1971.

Living Together (an illustrated account of the history, life, and work of the Society of Brothers in three continents) Farmington, 1958.

Meier, Hans. "The Dissolution of the Rhön Bruderhof in Germany." Mennonite Historical Bulletin 41 (July 1980): 1-6.

Rubin, Julius H. "Contested Narratives: A Case Study of the Conflict between a New Religious Movement and its Critics." Peregrine Foundation. 1998. http://www.perefound.org/jr_cn.html (accessed 18 February 2009).

Ten Years of Community Living. The Wheathill Bruderhof, 1942-52. Bromdon, 1953.

True Surrender and Christian Community of Goods, From the Great Article Book by Peter Walpot 1577. Bromdon, 1957, reprint from Mennonite Quarterly Review 31 (1957)

Additional Information

Websites:

Christian Communities International

Plough Publishing

Peregrine Foundation (includes archives of KIT newsletter).

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MLA style

Bender, Harold S., Eberhard C. H. Arnold and Sam Steiner. "Bruderhof Communities." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2009. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bruderhof_Communities&oldid=154016.

APA style

Bender, Harold S., Eberhard C. H. Arnold and Sam Steiner. (February 2009). Bruderhof Communities. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bruderhof_Communities&oldid=154016.

Bruderhof Communities

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