Bruderhof Communities

The Bruderhof Communities (/ˈbruːdərˌhɔːf/; German: place of brothers) are Christian religious communities with branches in New York, Florida, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania in the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, Paraguay, and Australia. They have previously been called The Society of Brothers and were loosely affiliated with the Hutterian Brethren. The group is also known as Church Communities International.

History

The Bruderhof was founded in Germany in 1920 by Eberhard Arnold, a philosophy student and intellectual inspired by the German Youth Movement in post-World War I.[1] In 1920 he rented a house in Sannerz, Germany, and founded a religious community.

When the group outgrew the house at Sannerz, they moved to the nearby Rhön Mountains. While there, Arnold discovered that the Hutterites (an Anabaptist movement he had studied with great interest) were still in existence in North America. In 1930 he traveled to meet the Hutterites and was ordained as a Hutterian minister.

With the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, the Rhön community moved its draft-age men and children to Liechtenstein 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 350 members, largely through the addition of young English members seeking an alternative to war. Even before the outbreak of World War II, 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 chose the latter, and began to look for refuge abroad. Soon after England entered the war, the Bruderhof emigrated to Paraguay—the only country that would accept a pacifist community of mixed nationalities. This move was assisted and facilitated by the Mennonite Central Committee.[2]

During the first years in Paraguay, starting in the hostile Chaco region, then moving to the eastern part of the country, 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 significantly.

In 1954, the Bruderhof started a settlement known as the Woodcrest Bruderhof in the United States near Rifton, New York, 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. New communities were also founded in Pennsylvania (1957) and Connecticut (1958). By 1962, all remaining members had relocated from Paraguay to the northeastern United States, or to England, in part as a result of a "crisis of leadership" whereby descendants of the group's founder took decisive control of the group and thereby created a rift among members. Some members were not satisfied with the leadership and either voluntarily left the community or were abandoned in Paraguay with very few resources. While later Bruderhof leadership apologized for these transgressions, emotional wounds remained.[2]

The Forest River colony of Schmiedeleut Hutterites in North Dakota invited Bruderhof members 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, Sinntal municipality in Hesse, Germany where the movement started. It is one of two Bruderhof houses in Germany. In 2003 the Bruderhof opened a new community in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia, where they operate the sign-writing business Danthonia Designs.[3]

Beliefs

The Bruderhof's foundation is faith in Jesus, the Christ and son of God.[4] His teachings are central to Bruderhof life – particularly the command "Love your neighbor as yourself", the Sermon on the Mount, and teachings concerning nonviolence, faithfulness in marriage, and compassion for the poor. Bruderhof members share the beliefs as recorded in the Apostles' Creed and the Didache.

The Bruderhof tries to follow the practices of the first church in Jerusalem as related in the Acts of the Apostles, for example Acts 4:32–37: where the church members were 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 of 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 Movement.

Present day

Most contemporary communities have a nursery, kindergarten, 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.[5] Numerous guests visit the Bruderhof and all communities are open to guests.[6]

They are estimated to have around 2,600 members world wide.

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.[7] It still provides the community with a livelihood today. Other Bruderhof businesses include Rifton Equipment, which offers mobility and rehabilitation equipment for disabled adults and children,[8] and Clean Sheen Services, which provides cleaning and property management services.

The Bruderhof's Plough Publishing House publishes books and a quarterly magazine "Plough Quarterly". Plough publishes spiritual classics, inspirational books, and children’s books, some of which are available as free downloads.[9]

Involvement in the wider community

Through the Bruderhof Foundation, a charity created to support outreach and service efforts, and through individual members, the Bruderhof remains actively involved in the neighborhoods that surround its communities,[8] 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. The Bruderhof community campaigns actively on social issues, such as the campaign in opposition to the death sentence for the activist Mumia Abu-Jamal who was convicted of murdering a Philadelphia police officer.[10]

Controversy and criticism

Former members have documented their experiences and criticisms in KIT - the Keep In Touch Newsletter (published 1989–current date). Find KIT in "Critics" section, below. Sociologist Julius Rubin, who interviewed former members for his book The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy among the Bruderhof, was not allowed to visit the Bruderhof before publishing the book.[11] John A. Hostetler, the American author and anthropologist at Temple University in Philadelphia whose work focused on Anabaptist groups, was close to the Bruderhofs and wrote articles for the group's magazine, The Plough, but later said he encountered what he called a "militaristic wall of hostility" from the Bruderhof's leadership after he wrote an article that criticised them.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Mike Tyldesley (2003). No Heavenly Delusion?: A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements. Liverpool University Press. doi:10.5949/UPO9781846313677. ISBN 978-0-85323-608-5.
  2. 1 2 Christensen & Levinson, Karen & David (2003). Encyclopedia of community: from the village to the virtual world, Volume 3. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications. p. 105. ISBN 0-7619-2598-8.
  3. ↑ Richard Torbay. "Hansard Transcript: Bruderhof Community, Inverell". Parliament of New South Wales.
  4. ↑ Foundations of our Faith & Calling; The Bruderhof; The Plough Publishing House, Rifton, New York 2012
  5. ↑ Richard Weizel (1996-12-08). "Of Family, Spirituality and Power". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  6. ↑ Christopher Zimmerman (1996-12-15). "The Bruderhof, Another View". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  7. ↑ "Excerpt from A Future Perfect: The Essentials of Globalization, By John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  8. 1 2 Steve Levin (2000-07-21). "Bruderhof youth festival readied". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
  9. ↑ "Plough.com". Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  10. ↑ Andres Tapia and Rudy Carrasco (2007-06-21). "A Christian Community Makes Waves, Not War". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  11. 1 2 Gerald Renner (1995-11-12). "Bruderhof Leader Defends Close-knit Community Against Outside Critics". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2013-09-23.

Bibliography

External links

Critics

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