The
Bruderhof Communities are
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
religious communities with branches in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
and
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
in the
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. They have previously been called
The Society of Brothers and
The Hutterian Brethren. The name was recently changed to
Church Communities International.
Beliefs
The Bruderhof's foundation is faith in
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
. His teachings are central to Bruderhof life - particularly the command "Love your neighbor as yourself," the
Sermon on the MountIn the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of Jesus' sayings, epitomizing his moral teaching. According to chapters , Jesus of Nazareth gave this sermon on a mountainside to his disciples and a large crowd. Matthew groups Jesus' teachings into five discourses, of which...
, and His teachings concerning nonviolence, faithfulness in marriage, and compassion for the poor. Bruderhof members share the beliefs as recorded in the
Apostles' CreedThe Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...
and the
DidacheThe Didache is the common name of a brief early Christian treatise...
.
The Bruderhof follows the practices of the first church in Jerusalem, whose members were (according to the
Book of ActsThe Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as Acts and outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
) of "one heart and mind, and shared all things in common." Bruderhof members do not hold private property, but rather share everything. No Bruderhof member receives a salary or has a bank account. Income from all businesses is pooled and used for the care for all members, and for various communal outreach efforts.
The Bruderhof is a peace church whose members do not serve in the armed forces of any country. They claim to model a way of life that removes the social and economic divisions that bring about war. The goal of the Bruderhof is to create a new society where self-interest is yielded for the sake of the common good.
The Bruderhof movement draws inspiration and guidance from a number of historical streams including the early Christians, the Anabaptists and the
German Youth MovementThe German Youth Movement is a collective term for educational-cultural renewal movement starting from 1896 on. It consists of numerous associations of young people focused on outdoor activities...
.
History
The Bruderhof was founded in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
in 1920 by
Eberhard ArnoldEberhard Arnold was a Christian German writer, philosopher, and theologian. He was the founder of the Bruderhof in 1920....
, a philosophy student and an intellectual speaker inspired by the
German Youth MovementThe German Youth Movement is a collective term for educational-cultural renewal movement starting from 1896 on. It consists of numerous associations of young people focused on outdoor activities...
in post-
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
. In 1920 he rented a house in
Sannerz, GermanySinntal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany.It consists of the following localities:* Altengronau* Breunings* Jossa* Mottgers* Neuengronau* Oberzell with Ziegelhütte* Sannerz* Schwarzenfels* Sterbfritz...
, and founded a religious community.
When the group outgrew the house at Sannerz, they moved to the nearby
Rhön MountainsThe Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end of the East Hesse Highlands , are partly a result of ancient volcanic activity...
. While there, Arnold discovered that the
HutteriteHutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Since the death of their founder Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute...
s (a body he had studied with great interest) were still in existence in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. In 1930 he traveled to meet the Hutterites and was ordained as a Hutterian minister.
With the rise of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
and
NazismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
, the Rhön community moved its draft-age men and children to
LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² and it has an estimated population of 35,000...
around 1934 because of their conscientious refusal to serve in the armed forces and to accept Nazi teachers. This community became known as the
Alm Bruderhof. Continuing pressure from the Nazi government caused others to move to England and found the
Cotswold Bruderhof in 1936. On April 14, 1937, secret police surrounded the Rhön Bruderhof, confiscated the property, and gave the remaining community members forty-eight hours to flee the country. By 1938, all the Bruderhof members had reassembled in England.
While in England, the population grew to over 500 members, largely through the addition of young English members seeking an alternative to war. Even before the outbreak of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the community’s German members and its pacifist stance attracted deep suspicion locally resulting in economic boycotts. When confronted with the option of either having all German members interned, or leaving England as a group, the Bruderhof choose the latter, and began to look for refuge abroad. Soon after England entered the war, the Bruderhof emigrated to
ParaguayParaguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America....
— the only country that would accept a pacifist community of mixed nationalities.
During the first years in the Paraguayan
ChacoThe Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided between eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. This land is sometimes called the Chaco Plain.-Geography: The Gran Chaco is...
, Bruderhof members founded three settlements as well as a hospital for community members and local Paraguayans. The only clinic in the area, it served tens of thousands for the next two decades. By the early 1960s, the community in Paraguay had grown to about 700 members.
In 1954, the Bruderhof started a settlement known as the Woodcrest Bruderhof in the United States near
Rifton, New YorkRifton is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 501 at the 2000 census.Rifton is near the west town line of the Town of Esopus on Route 213.-Geography:...
, in response to a dramatic increase in the number of American guests. Hundreds of new members joined, many from other communal groups across the country. Around this time, the Bruderhof reestablished the teachings of Jesus as the basis and foundation of the communal movement.
New communities were also founded in
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
(1957) and
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
(1958). By 1962, all remaining members had relocated from Paraguay to the northeastern United States, or to England.
The Forest River colony of Schmiedeleut Hutterites in
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
invited the Bruderhof to join them, and about 36 members moved to North Dakota. In 1955, the Schmiedeleut group excluded the Bruderhof and placed the Forest River colony under probation. In 1973, the Bruderhof leadership apologized for the problems among the Forest River colony and in 1974 was reunited with all branches of the Hutterian Church. However, in 1990 the more conservative Dariusleut and Lehrerleut Hutterites excommunicated the Bruderhof, refusing to recognize them as Hutterites because of practices that did not conform to standard Hutterite order including sending children to public schools, the use of musical instruments, and participation in a protest march. In 1990 the Spring Valley Bruderhof was founded adjacent to the New Meadow Run Bruderhof in Farmington, Pennsylvania.
In 2002 the Bruderhof purchased the house in Sannerz where the movement started. It is one of two Bruderhof houses in Germany.
Most contemporary communities have a nursery,
kindergartenis a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction. In most countries kindergarten is part of the preschool system of early childhood...
, school, communal kitchen, laundry, various workshops, and offices. Bruderhof life is built around the family, though there are also many single members. Children are an important part of each community and participate in most communal gatherings. Disabled and elderly members are loved and cared for within the community and participate in daily life and work as much as they are able.
Like the Hutterites, the Bruderhof members do not hold private property individually, but rather share everything in common. No Bruderhof member receives a salary or has a bank account. Income from all businesses is pooled and used for the care for all members, and for various communal outreach efforts.
Children of Bruderhof families do not automatically become members, but are encouraged to leave the community and live elsewhere before deciding on their own whether or not to join the community. Numerous guests visit the Bruderhof and all communities are open to guests.
Businesses
Community Playthings, a line of classroom furniture and toys, was developed during the 1950s and soon became the Bruderhof’s main source of income. It still provides the community with a livelihood today. Other Bruderhof businesses Rifton Equipment, which offers mobility and rehabilitation equipment for disabled adults and children, Spring Valley Signs, which produces hand carved wooden signs, and Clean Sheen Services, which provides cleaning and property management services.
The Bruderhof has operated a publishing house since its founding in 1920, though it is now discontinued. For the last forty years, the community has published books and periodicals under its own imprint, the Plough. Plough published spiritual classics, inspirational books, and children’s books. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many of the Bruderhof's books were available as free resources on their websites but were inaccessible for a time due to Plough's closing down their main publishing operations in 2005.
Involvement in the wider community
Through the Bruderhof Foundation, a
charityA charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . The term is relatively general and can technically refer to a public charity or a private foundation. It differs from other types of NPOs in that its focus is centered around goals of a general philanthropic nature A charitable...
created to support outreach and service efforts, and through individual members, the Bruderhof remains actively involved in the neighborhoods that surround its communities, and in the world at large. Bruderhof members serve on school boards, volunteer at prisons and hospitals, and work with local social service agencies to provide food and shelter for those in need of help.
Controversy and criticism
Former members have documented their experiences and criticisms in the Keeping In Touch newsletter (published 1989 - 2001) and in an Internet forum. Sociologist Julius Rubin compiled a book of ex-member's stories.
Further reading
- Against The Wind, Markus Baum, 1998 Plough Publishing House
- A Joyful Pilgrimage: My Life in Community, Emmy Arnold, 2007 Plough Publishing House
- No Lasting Home: A Year in the Paraguayan Wilderness, Emmy Barth, 2009 Plough Publishing House
- Cast Out In The World by Miriam Arnold Holmes
- Community in Paraguay: A Visit to the Bruderhof, Bob and Shirley Wagoner
- Encyclopedia of American Religions (5th edition), J. Gordon Melton, editor
- Free from Bondage by Nadine Moonje Pleil
- Homage to a Broken Man:The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold, by Peter Mommsen, 2007 Plough Publishing House
- The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy Among The Bruderhof, by Julius H. Rubin
- The Joyful Community: An account of the Bruderhof, a communal movement now in its third generation by Benjamin David Zablocki
- Torches Extinguished: Memories of a Communal Bruderhof Childhood in Paraguay, Europe and the U. S. by Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe
- Seeking for the Kingdom of God: Origins of the Bruderhof Communities, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold
- Through Streets Broad And Narrow by Belinda Manley
External links
Critics