The Bruderhof

Goal of the Bruderhof is presumptuous manifestation of “Jesus Victor”, the establishment of the Kingdom of God (Heaven) on Earth — a form of Chiliasm (Millenialism). Eberhard Arnold and his Bruderhof misinterpret the Sermon on the Mount as mandate to live communally in order to establish the Kingdom of God, taking Christ’s analogy of “a city on a hill” literally, when Christ specifically proceeds, following that analogy, to say “Let your light so shine [like a city on a hill] before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” He does not say go found a literal community or city on a hill, but for each Christian to let THEIR light shine, i.e. the Light of God (uncreated Divine energies, or grace) to which each has attained by faith and praxis (asceticism, self denial). Such communal mandate as that of the Bruderhof is a familiar Reformed Protestant and Radical Reformation error, like that of Zwingli, the Puritans, the Anabaptists, and others who are not in possession of the Church’s phronema and so, interpret Holy Writ in ways that are not consistent with Tradition and historical teaching of The Church established by the Lord Jesus Christ through his disciples at Pentecost.
See — Eugenia Constantinou Ph.D.
The Kingdom of God per His Christ has always been here, at hand. It especially was evidenced at Pentecost through the Holy Spirit, by which (not the “established” or “institutional” but) the historical one, holy, catholic (universal), and apostolic Church came to succede after that from evangelization by Christ’s apostles. The Church was and is formed through the Eucharist (Holy Communion), the Real Presence of Christ’s body and blood (in the material elements of bread, wine, and water) by which individual members are mysteriously, supernaturally, Divinely transfigured into the Body of Christ, His Church — not through the Bruderhof or any other upstart Protestant form of communalism. This does not mean that communal living is forbidden Church members, only that it is not incumbent upon them or mandatory for them, and especially that the Kingdom of God is not dependent upon such community, as proclaimed by the theological errors of Arnold and the Bruderhof, or any such communal group.
See — Community
A communal form of Church parish definitely has advantages for Church members and the witness of The Church in the modern world, but it is spiritual communion, not physical community in and of itself, that is determinant of the Kingdom of God in the material world, which is properly the role of the Eucharist (through which community is formed). And unlike such groups as the Bruderhof and their claims to be Christian (of Christ), the historical presence of the Holy Spirit in The Church has never been dependent on the “inner light”, purity or perfection of any member of The Church, but solely on the apostolic succession of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith given once for all time at Pentecost, as expressed in the Eucharist.
If Eberhard Arnold had headed east from Germany to The Church instead of striking out on his own, and then heading west to join forces with the Anabaptist Hutterites, the Bruderhof might have become an asset to The Church by being a communal witness to the modern world. The Bruderhof could still become such an asset if its members and communities were to leave the Hutterites, and instead become members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, thereby coming out from under spiritual Prelest, acquiring phronema of The Church, and leaving behind theological errors and Spiritual Abuse.
The Bruderhof penchant for Love of Money is an outgrowth of having perpetually been poor since its inception and founding. Eberhard Arnold was forever traveling to raise funds for his communal project. After moving around to escape from the Nazis in World War II, the Bruderhof ended up in Paraguay after Arnold’s death, where members lived like frontier settlers, never managing to become self sustaining, and having to continually rely on the goodness of donors, as they always had before.
After WWII when the USA was ramping up economically, the Bruderhof founded it’s first community in North America in 1954, appropriately located not far from the Burned-over district of upstate New York, the historic location of much of American Revivalism. There, the Bruderhof acquired the Community Playthings business from the failed Macedonia Cooperative Community, a business which soon thereafter proved to be a cash cow, thanks to government funding of early childhood development. The Bruderhof now has millions of dollars in worldwide business revenue which it manages from a common pot. But apparently, old habits die hard for the Bruderhof, and Love of Money proves to be a master not easily forsaken.

See — Spiritual Abuse, Cults

The Bruderhof Communities | Cult Education Institute

Bruderhof Communities | Wikipedia

Inside the Bruderhof (2020) Documentary | DailyMotion

Inside the Bruderhof review – is this a religious stirring I feel?
— This heaven-on-earthly documentary about the radical Christian sect, where everything is shared and faith is the only currency, gave pause for thought
Inside the bizarre world of 300 radical Christians living in East Sussex
— EXCLUSIVE: The Bruderhof community live in the picturesque village of Robertsbridge and have given up material possessions and the internet for a shared life following Jesus
Inside the secret Home Counties commune that preaches celibacy and hard labour to Gen Z
— In a picturesque Sussex village, a century-old Christian commune is quietly attracting young people turned off by the prospect of modern society. Hatty Willmoth spent a week among the 300 worshippers who dress modestly, make wooden toys for a living and have a tendency to break into song
'Just don't call it a cult': the strangely alluring world of the Bruderhof
— In the radical religious community, no one owns or earns anything, everyone sings constantly and the booze flows freely. Where are the drawbacks?

Life Among The Bruderhof
With The Bruderhof

Life inside the Cotswold Bruderhof

Bruderhof.com
Locations
Our Calling
— Church Community, The Way of Peace
Life In Community
— Community Of Goods, Common Work, The Supreme Adventure of Communal Living

Bruderhof Communities podcasts | Internet Archive

Kingdom Come: Essential theology for the twenty-first century
— Hopefully this book provides a different perspective on the Kingdom of God/Heaven than that taught at the Bruderhof, especially if it interprets covenant as spousal relationship and not legal contract

See — Sexuality, Bridegroom Services of Great and Holy Week

Spiritual Abuse

See — Crises, Cults, Ron Jones, Analogies

The Bruderhof is a communal “brotherhood” that at any moment can turn on members, who for all they know are in good standing, only to proclaim them evil, and give them the boot. The Bruderhof practices spiritual abuse — the arbitrary finding of members guilty of bad spirit, not standing right, etc. by which they may be excluded, put out on the street virtually penniless to fend for themselves and start life over after having given over everything, their entire financial worth to the community.

The Bruderhof is plagued by spiritual deception (Prelest), oblivious to, or ignoring warning of the quintessential spiritual parable of America and the West — It‘s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. A master of Public Relations (PR), the Bruderhof perpetrates its deception on others by targeting prospective new members with what is termed “love bombs” (over friendliness, caring, etc.), by which deception is created that all is loving and well in the brotherhood, when it certainly is not. As someone has said, Bruderhof leadership and rank and file so scrupulously watch to prevent evil from entering their back door, that evil has waltzes right in its front door.
For all the decrying of worldly mammon, the Bruderhof traffics in Love of Money. A master of moneymaking that suspiciously may not be above bilking The System for financial assistance, WIC food stamps and Social Security payments to children and elderly members (finagled to appear as living in poverty?). The Bruderhop is as well (as previously stated), a master at absconding persoanl inheritances and any and all financial assets of members and prospective members alike, the latter representing an additional, ever expanding source of revenue for the commune.

Everything together: BACKSTORY | A glimpse at life in a Christian commune
— Comments: RockyW
“One has to look beyond the arguably shallow and, perhaps, deceptive surface of such a glowing report of this type of community...but how? I was born and raised in an Anabaptist family, although Mennonite instead of Bruderhof. It is quite different to look on from the outside versus being a child, and especially a girl, raised from the inside of this type of religious group. I have many good memories as a child, but it was much more difficult as an adult to practice freedom of conscience; there was a very strong honor/shame culture of traditions that was so entwined with the gospel message to the degree that separating truth from tradition led some to question my salvation and others (though not all!) to withdraw fellowship [i.e. shun]. Reading this rosy depiction and the deflection of cult concerns reminds me of how easy it is to possibly misjudge appearances, especially when they look so good.”

How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you're ready) after Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind)
Untwisting Scriptures that were used to tie you up, gag you, and tangle your mind
Book 1
Book 2 Patriarchy and Authority
Book 3 Your Words, Your Emotions
Book 4 Wolves, Hypocrisy, Sin Leveling, and Righteousness
Book 5 Brokenness & Suffering

“Jesus as Intercessor”: Barely Restraining God’s Wrath?
Here’s What’s Wrong With God Looking Through the “Filter” of Jesus to See His Children

Orthodoxy and Shame
Frightened by Confession: Overcoming Shame
Shame Before Confession
Saved in Weakness
Guilt and Shame – What’s The Difference?
The Wound of Shame

No More Shame—Seeing Ourselves Clothed in Robes of Righteousness

God's Love Integrity Music's Scripture Memory Songs
— The healing power of scripture through music

German Youth Movement

German Youth Movement (Jugendbewegung) | Wikipedia
Wandervogel | Wikipedia
German Scouting | Wikipedia

Wandervogel | Bärenreiter Encyclopedia

Jugendbewegung (“youth movement”)
The Neuwerk Movement

Die Neuwerkbewegung: Zwischen Jugendbewegung und religiösem Sozialismus

Eberhard Arnold

EberhardArnold.com
Eberhard Arnold: Founder of the Bruderhof
— Eberhard Arnold was a German born pastor with American parents, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and co-founder of the Bruderhof
Eberhard Arnold and Nietzsche
Social Justice
Why We Live In Community

Community Playthings

Community Playthings
— Without Community Playthings, the Bruderhof would not be as financially successful as it is today, but instead would still be living hand to mouth as in the past, constantly begging donations from others, including Hutterites, which is how the Bruderhof came to be associated with the Hutterite “church” and its Radical Reformation, Anabaptist practices.

75 years and counting
A Company Built on Unit Blocks

Macedonia Cooperative Community

It was through aborption of the Macedonia Cooperative Community that the Bruderhof came to acquire Community Playthings

Country life movement | Wikipedia
Staughton Lynd | Wikipedia

Macedonia Morning: A decade before the protest movements of the sixties, Staughton Lynd and other visionaries were laying a foundation in the hills of Georgia

Appalachia and the Quest for a “Viable Alternative”: The Macedonia Cooperative Community, 1937-1958
— “Cooperation is a direction,” [Morris] Mitchell proclaimed, “the opposite direction from competition. The individual gains through, not at the expense of, general welfare. Fear and greed are basic to competition; love and generosity to cooperation.” Because they saw in the mountains an agrarian refuge where Jeffersonian ideas of landed independence, self-sufficiency, and egalitarianism still held sway, they felt it was the perfect place to implement their vision for a cooperative society.

Macedonia Cooperative Community Records

Caroline Pratt

Caroline Pratt (educator) | Wikipedia
City and Country School | Wikipedia

It was Caroline Pratt of NYC who developed the unpatented blocks by which Community Playthings became successful.
According to Benjamin Zablocki (The Joyful Community 1971), the Bruderhof, due to its belief system, has not patented any of its products, only the name Community Playthings.
Others have also copied Pratt‘s blocks and educational methodology.

City and Country School
— Over a century of progressive education for 2s–8th Grade in NYC’s West Village
History of City and Country School
I Learn From Children
Blocks Program
Jobs Program
Rhythms Program

Plough

Plough.com
— publishing house of the Bruderhof

Thy Kingdom Come — Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt and Johann Christoph Blumhardt
Why We Live In Community Free Download
A Testimony to Church Community Free Download Amazon
Called To Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People
‘Church community is a gift of the Holy Spirit’: The spirituality of the Bruderhof community — Ian M. Randall

Another Life Is Possible

Another Life Is Possible: Insights from 100 Years of Life Together
Foreward by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury 2002-2012
— “The church of God is repeatedly reminded of what it actually is by the way God calls believers to take community seriously, generation after generation. The church, in the widest sense, constantly slips back into being either a hierarchical body where some decide and others obey, or else a loose association of individuals sharing a common inspiration but little else. The Bruderhof movement has, over the last century, firmly and consistently declared that neither of these will do. The Good News is nothing if not embodied in a style of living together – learning, praying, working, deciding together – that simply manifests what God makes possible. As our civilization shakes and fragments, and begins to recognize belatedly what violence it has done to the whole created order as well as to the deepest levels of human dignity, this embodied witness is more and more significant.”
Author‘s Introduction
Photographer‘s Note

A Successful Entrepreneur Who Realized That Living A Life Of Meaning Had Nothing To Do With Wealth
A CEO with a Unique Set of Challenges and Opportunities — and No Paycheck

Facebook

Bruderhof Communities | Facebook
Plough Publishing | Facebook

YouTube

Plough Magazine | YouTube Channel
Bruderhof | YouTube Channel
Bruderhof Music | YouTube Channel
Laura from the Bruderhof | YouTube Channel

Who are the Bruderhof? A Rapidly Growing Anabaptist Church you need to be aware of | Est. 1920 | Daine
BBC: Inside a Gated Bruderhof Commune, What we Saw | YouTube
Responding to the BBC documentary "Inside the Bruderhof" | YouTube
Bruderhof Explained in 2 Minutes | YouTube
What Makes Anabaptists Different?
What Is Intentional Community?
Why Intentional Community?
Why You Should Live in Intentional Community
Q & A on Intentional Community
What Happened When We Started Our Own Intentional Community
5 Things We’ve Learned Living in Intentional Community
Intentional Community – Our Favorite Resources
Why We're Not a Closed Community
Idealism is the enemy of community
When Intentional Community is a Bad Idea
Sunday Night Live - Bruderhof Community - Fr. Groeschel w Johann Christoph Arnold - 06-26-2011

Religious Melancholy

The Society Syndrome: Depressive Illness and Conversion Crises in a Christian Fundamentalist Sect — Julius H. Rubin, Ph.D.
The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy among the Bruderhof
Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America

The Anatomy of Melancholy | Wikipedia

Crises

See — Cults, Ron Jones

Bruderhof Exposé - Woodcrest Community 48 Hours | YouTube
Chronicle nightly news magazine WCVB-TV Boston Oct 11, 1995 | YouTube —
   The Bruderhof - News Story - Part 1
   The Bruderhof - News Story - Part 2
   The Bruderhof - News Story - Part 3

Peregrine Foundation Archives
Expelled Bruderhofers Members Speak Out — John A. Hostetler renowned sociologist, educator and author, reared in the Old Order Amish
The KIT Information Service
Our Broken Relationship With The Society Of Brothers
An Analysis of Some Bruderhof Traits
Contested Narratives: A Case Study of the Conflict between a New Religious Movement and its Critics
The KIT Newsletter, an Activity of the KIT Information Service, a Project of The Peregrine Foundation
E-Mail Dialogue With A Self-Announced 'Potential Bruderhof Candidate'

A community of Bruderhof leavers: reflections on the KIT/hummer process

Afterhof | Facebook
alt.support.bruderhof | Google Group

An Ex-Member's Eye View of the Bruderhof Communities From 1948-1961 — Robert N. Peck
The Great Bruderhof Newsgroup Fight
Bruderhof: My dark past growing up in a rural English commune BBC News 10 March 2020

Cruel Sanctuary: A young woman's battle to escape from a fanatical religious sect
A Wider Horizon: The Primavera Journals of Ray Sabin
The community that failed: An account of twenty-two years in Bruderhof communes in Europe and South America — Roger Allain
Rating: Puzzling but Absorbing
— “I have read other books which cover this period by other people who chose to leave or were ejected and of all of them this seemed the most balanced and least judgemental. The facts are given straight-forwardly by someone who had a complete understanding of the Bruderhof’s strengths and weaknesses, not to mention his own. My overall impression is of a community founded with the clarity and faith of one man which lost its way after he died and was succeeded by his son, and currently his grandson. This hierarchical/dynastic system is not based on any reality that his children necessarily carried his vision and spirituality and I cannot help but wonder who will succeed the current leader Johann Christoph Arnold who is himself quite elderly.
The Bruderhof claim they are following in the footsteps of the early Christians who lived in peace with each other, sharing everything and giving to each according to their need. Idealistic of course because to the best of my knowledge the early Christians way of life was not sustainable and eventually was heard of no more. The Bruderhof is yet another (and very well meaning) stab at creating Utopia which I believe is virtually impossible given the fraility of human nature.”

Carrier Pigeon Press
— The Carrier Pigeon Press originally was founded in order to publish a book-length memoir by Roger Allain, an ex-Servant of the Word (Bruderhof minister). Roger, his wife Norah and their eight children left the Bruderhof's South American communities in 1960 at the very beginning of what came to be known as 'The Great Crisis.' They moved to Brazil, and rebuilt their life there. The Community That Failed (published 1992) was written as a 'roman a clef' that is with the names fictionalized and with some composite characters.
Torches Extinguished: Memories of a Communal Bruderhof Childhood in Paraguay, Europe and the USA — Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe
Free from Bondage: After Forty Years In Bruderhof Communities On Three Continents— Nadine Moonje Pleil (Amazon)
Through Streets Broad and Narrow: A Woman's Ongoing Search To Find A Christian Pacifist Lifestyle, Including A 17-Year Sojourn In The Bruderhof Communities — Belinda Manley
Cast Out In The World: From The Bruderhof To A Life On Her Own — Miriam Arnold Holmes
— "The Bruderhof is made up of individual human beings. As individuals and as a group they make mistakes, just as all of us humans make mistakes. When the organization is elevated and praised, Jesus is diminished and pushed aside. In an environment of such self-praise and religious superiority it is not possible to see clearly when one has erred. The Bruderhof may seek to change things that they feel are wrong. The problem, as I see it, is that they believe so strongly in themselves and their [self] righteousness that they cannot necessarily recognise obvious mistakes. When people, such as yourself, praise, honor and have faith in the Bruderhof, I believe that praise, honor and faith are misplaced. Truth, honor, love and compassion come from God - not the Bruderhof. If they would humble themselves just a little, I believe a great deal of unnecessary suffering could be quickly ended." - Timothy Domer

The Bruderhof Communities | Cult Education Institute
Bruderhof sues vocal critic The Times Herald-Record / August 31, 2000
Gaithersburg Man Crosses the Bruderhof Maryland Daily Record, August 31, 2000
Bruderhofs told to present kids Times Union Albany, NY/August 5, 2000
— Judge orders women, children of sect into court in custody case
Inquiry into doctor who buried mother on cult land The Sydney Morning Herald/February 24, 2013
— Could Irene Maendel have been saved? A special investigation
Doctor fights action over mother's death The Sydney Morning Herald/March 6, 2013
Family divided as doctor cleared of misconduct The Sydney Morning Herald/March 10, 2013
Reprimand for nurse present at Christian community death Medical Observer, Australia/May 22, 2013
Experience: I was abandoned by my cult The Guardian, UK/December 16, 2016
— There are parts of that day I was left on the roadside that I cannot recall — Christine Mathis

Was Bryan R. Wilson bribed? Why else would the renown cult scholar deny that the Bruderhof is a cult only 3 years before his death at age 78?
Bryan R. Wilson 25 June 1926 – 9 October 2004 | Wikipedia
Bryan Ronald Wilson 1926–2004
Why The Bruderhof Is Not A Cult - by Bryan Wilson | SCRIBD
Is the Bruderhof a cult? Oxford professor says no Bryan R. Wilson 27 Apr 2001
Bruderhof Cult? - Absolutely not says cult expert

Analogies

Beneath the wholesomeness of its superficial exterior, the Bruderhof is really, actually like . . . —

Animal Farm | Wikipedia — YouTube 1954 film 1999 film
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell, Animal Farm
“We [Bruderhof members] were all equal, and yet we were not all equal.” — Nadine Moonje Pleil, Chapter 13 - Free From Bondage
— George Orwell wrote Animal Farm as an analolgy for Bolshevik communism.
The Bruderhof claims to be “Christian” socialism, but it's not — it's “Christian” Bolshevism, dictatorial not consensual as claimed.
The inner circle of Servants of the Word and other insiders is the most UNequal of all Bruderhof members, but the Arnold family and ruling Arnold “Elder” are the most privileged, pampered and UNequal of all, no differently than Communist Party officials.

The Crucible | Wikipedia
The Crucible (1996 film) | Wikipedia — Trailer
“In a world ruled by fear, all it takes to be condemned is to be accused.”
— Arthur Miller wrote this play as an analogy of McCarthyism because if he had been explicit, his career would have been destroyed.
As in The Crucible, the Bruderhof periodically enters crisis mode where it launches a witch hunt in search of scapegoats, by which the commune “purifies” itself in order to presumably speak for God, for the Holy Spirit.
See — Hollywood Blacklist

Midsommar | Wikipedia — Promo, Trailer
“It’s like another world....We just need to acclimate.”
“You can’t speak; you can’t move, but this opens you up to the insides. It breaks down your defenses. You’re gonna love it.”
“At its core, the film is about a young woman who copes with crippling anxiety rooted in a desperate and fearful need for love as she comes to terms with the end of a relationship. It's about anxiety, fear of abandonment, and moving on. It is a meditation on human belonging; an operatic catharsis played on the strings of emotional dependency; a journey both inward and outward, to finally let go of something that was never meant to be.” — IMDb Reviews
— As in Midsommer, the Bruderhof sacrifices human members to purge its commune of “evil”; thereby becoming dismembered, a corpse of the walking dead, a mindless zombie.

Children of the Corn (1984 film) | Wikipedia — YouTube
“Isaac, through his teachings, leads the kids to believe that being an [adulterated] adult is a sin, as is anything to do with the modern world, and everyone from outside the collective of children in the town has to be eliminated.” — Asteroid
— Likewise, Bruderhof leaders through their teachings, particularly that outside their commune is “evil”, become transgressors of evil in the name of purging evil from their midst in order to delusionally remain “pure”. The Children of the Corn (like the Bruderhof) are a religious cult who serve their god (He Who Walks Behind the Rows) by engaging in human sacrifice, murdering all the adults of the town over age 18.

Annie (1982 film) | Wikipedia — Film Clip
“I love money, I love power, I love capitalism.”
"A child without courage is like a night without stars!"
“It's the Hard Knock Life for us. It's the hard knock life for us. 'Steada treated we get tricked! 'Steada kisses we get kicked! It's the Hard Knock Life!”
— The Bruderhof is like an orphanage, a “hard knock life” where children are put into daycare at an early age, spending more time with others than with their mothers, fathers and siblings while parents work long hours and siblings spend most the day at school, other activities and work. Children can be beaten to conform to “Christian” communal expectation, put in exclusion, shunned and separated from parents and friends. Parents can also be excluded and separated from one another and their children, verbally abused and upbraided in public before the entire communal group for not being holy enough for ruling Arnold family expectations. Families can be relocated, destroying long term friendships which are outlawed. So the whole notion of a Bruderhof “Alternative Life” that‘s better than what the world has to offer is nothing but a Big Lie. In the midst of abuse, all the Bruderhof orphans must continually proclaim “I love you Arnolds” (ruling family dynasty)—just as Annie and her orphan peers must proclaim love for the abusive orphanage overseer—or exclusion and abuse of Bruderhof members will ensue for sure, of that you can be assured.

The Wave (1981)
The Wave (2008 film) | Wikipedia
Die Welle (The Wave) | YouTube
“Be Careful Who You Follow”
— The Wave, a 1981 made-for-TV movie, and Die Welle (The Wave), a 2008 German movie, are based on The Third Wave, a social experiment by US high school teacher Ron Jones to explain to his 1967 class of students in Palo Alto CA how the German populace could accept the actions of the Nazi regime, how what happened to the German people in Nazi Germany can happen to anyone anywhere. The students voluntarily give themselves over to the totalitarian authoritarianism of their teacher in order to feel part of something bigger than themselves, name their movement “The Wave” and adopt the motto “Strength in Unity” (Discipline, Community, Action, and Pride).
Like the high school students, Bruderhof members submit themselves to the authoritarianism of their Elder (almost always an Eberhard Arnold family descendent) under the delusion of obtaining spiritual strength from the united community (discipline, action, and pride) of their mindlessness, and end up following the devil, the fallen angel and enemy of God, humanity, and All Creation instead of God's Son & Word, Jesus Christ.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and Follow Me.” [not the Bruderhof, some commune, or family dynasty communal “leader”] — Matt 16:24
See — Ron Jones, The Third Wave, The Wave
The Allure of Authoritarianism | What The Wave is Really About (Film Analysis) | YouTube
Humanizing Hitler - What Downfall is Really About (Film Analysis) | YouTube

Elderly married couple epitomizes superficial wholesomeness of the Bruderhof cult