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Do you feel powerless to change the injustice at every level of society? Are you tired of answers that ignore the root causes of human suffering? This selection of writings by Eberhard Arnold, who left a career and the established church in order to live out the gospel, calls us to a completely different way.Be warned: Arnold doesn't approach discipleship as the route to some benign religious fulfillment, but as a revolution - a transformation that begins within and spreads outward to encompass every aspect of life. Arnold writes in the same tradition of radical obedience to the gospel as his contemporaries Barth and Bonhoeffer.

How close do we dare to get to Jesus¿ Sermon on the Mount? It¿s widely considered the key to understanding who Jesus was and what mission he strove to fulfill. For two millennia, countless people have wrestled to apply it, from Augustine to Luther to Tolstoy to Gandhi. Alongside much wisdom, there has been much evasion, prompting Jewish theologian Pinchas Lapide¿s tart comment: ¿The history of the impact of the Sermon on the Mount can largely be described in terms of an attempt to domesticate everything in it that is shocking, demanding, and uncompromising, and render it harmless.¿ There¿s good reason for this: Jesus¿ teaching is deeply disruptive. It demands a top-to-bottom reordering of life, work, and social relations,¿starting with radical economic sharing, nonresistance and love of enemies, lifelong marriage, and unconditional forgiveness.This issue of Plough Quarterly focuses on people willing to get their hands dirty living out the Sermon on the Mount. Their ranks include Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Wesley, Henri Nouwen, Mother Teresa, and others yoüll meet in these pages. Their insights are not to be consumed passively. Rather, they should inspire and equip each of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work.Bold, hope-filled, and down-to-earth, Plough Quarterly features thought-provoking articles, commentary, interviews, short fiction, book reviews, poetry and artwork to inspire everyday faith and action. Each issue brings together essential voices from many traditions to give you fresh insights on a core theme such as peacemaking, biblical justice, children and family, building community, man and woman, nature and the environment, nonviolence, or simple living. Starting from the conviction that the teachings and example of Jesus can transform and renew our world, it aims to apply them to all aspects of life, seeking common ground with all people of goodwill regardless of creed.

This theologian¿s most significant work, now being released in five smaller books.A Plough classic reissued to celebrate the centennial of our publishing house¿s founding by Eberhard Arnold in 1920.Part of a beautifully designed series of ten titles by this author, including reissues and new titles.Eberhard Arnold interacts with contemporaries such as Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemöller, Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and Jürgen Moltmann.

The diverse contributors to this issue of Plough Quarterly focus on what it means to be a peacemaker. Peacemaking, they show, is a riskier and more ambitious undertaking than we may have imagined. Today we must wage peace where thousands of children are being murdered by militias or forced to fight as soldiers. We need peacemakers in divided cities from Paris to Baltimore, peacemakers in a culture with little tolerance for Christian witness, and peacemakers in churches riven by ideological fights and petty grudges, not to mention making peace with our spouses, and with ourselves. Hear from active peacemakers on the frontlines of these battles and explore insights on peacemaking from Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Badshah Khan, Jeannette Rankin, Charles Spurgeon, André Trocmé, Peace Pilgrim, Albert Schweitzer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Eberhard Arnold. And as always, Plough Quarterly includes world-class art by the likes of Marc Chagall, Egon Schiele, Lisa Toth, Carl Larsson, Ben Shahn, Mikalojus Konstantinas ¿iurlionis, Paul Klee, Antonello da Messina, and others.Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, fiction, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus¿ message into practice and find common cause with others.

Canwe move beyond borders that divide us without losing our identity? Overthe past decade, theyearning for rootedness, for being part of a story bigger than oneself, hasflared up as a cultural force to be reckoned with. There’s much to affirm in thisdesire to belong to a people. That means pride in all that is admirable in thenation to which we belong – and repentance for its historic sins. Afocus on national identity, ofcourse, can lead to darker places. The new nationalists, who in Westerncountries often appeal to the memory of a Christian past, applaud whengovernments fortify borders to keep out people who are fleeing for their lives.(Needless to say, such actions are contrary to the Christian faith.) Is ouryearning for roots doomed to lead to a heartless politics of exclusion? Doesmaintaining group or national identity require borders guarded with lethalviolence?  Theanswer isn’t artificial schemes for universal brotherhood, such as a universal language. Our differencesare what make a community human. Might the true ground for community lie deepereven than shared nationality or language? After all, the biblical vision ofhumankind’s ultimate future has “every tribe and language and people andnation” coming together – beyond all borders but still as themselves. In this issue: - Santiago Ramosdescribes a double homelessness immigrant children experience as outsiders inboth countries.- Ashley Lucasprofiles a Black Panther imprisoned for life and looks at the impact on hisfamily.- Simeon Wiehlerhelps a museum repatriate a thousand human skulls collected by a colonialist.- Yaniv Sageecalls Zionism back to its founding vision of a shared society withPalestinians.- StephanieSaldaña finds the lost legendary chocolates of Damascus being crafted in Texas.- EdwidgeDanticat says storytelling builds a home that no physical separation can takeaway.- Phographer RiverClaure reimagines Saint-Exupéry’s LePetit Prince as an Aymara fairy tale.- Ann Thomas tellsof liminal experiences while helping families choose a cemetery plot.- Russell Moorechallenges the church to reclaim its integrity and staunch an exodus. You’ll also find: - Prize-winning poemsby Mhairi Owens, Susan de Sola, and Forester McClatchey- A profile of Japanesepeacemaker Toyohiko Kagawa- Reviews ofFredrik deBoer’s The Cult of Smart,Anna Neima’s The Utopians, and AmorTowles’s The Lincoln Highway- Insights onfollowing Jesus from E. Stanley Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, Teresa of Ávila,Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Eberhard Arnold, Leonardo Boff, MeisterEckhart, C. S. Lewis, Hermas, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Plough Quarterly features stories,ideas, and culturefor people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-deptharticles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus’message into practice and find common cause with others.

“Clarence Jordan spoke with an unwavering prophetic voice. He firmly rejected materialism, militarism, and racism as obstacles to authentic faith… He was a fearless and innovative defender of human rights.” —President Jimmy CarterOn 440 depleted acres in Sumter County, Georgia, a young Baptist preacher and farmer named Clarence Jordan gathered a few families and set out to show that Jesus intended more than spiritual fellowship. Like the first Christians, they would share their land, money, and possessions. Working together to rejuvenate the soil and the local economy, they would demonstrate racial and social justice with their lives.Black and white community members eating together at the same table scandalized local Christians, drew the ire of the KKK, and led to drive-by shootings, a firebombing, and an economic boycott.This bold experiment in nonviolence, economic justice, and sustainable agriculture was deeply rooted in Clarence Jordan’s understanding of the person and teachings of Jesus, which stood in stark contrast to the hypocrisy of churches that blessed wars, justified wealth disparity, and enforced racial segregation. “You can’t put Christianity into practice,” Jordan wrote, “You can’t make it work. As desperately as it is needed in this poor, broken world, it is not a philosophy of life to be ‘tried.’ Nor is it a social or ethical ideal which has tantalized humankind with the possibility of attainment. For Christianity is not a system you work – it is a Person who works you.”This selection from his talks and writings introduces Clarence Jordan’s radically biblical vision to a new generation of peacemakers, community builders, and activists.

No matter who wins the next election, Caesar will remain Caesar, doing some good and some bad. But Christians report to a different king.This issue starts with a provocation. In his opening letter, editor Peter Mommsen suggests Christians are too excited about the wrong politics: ¿Questions of public justice should matter deeply to Christians. We dare not be indifferent about securing healthcare for all and ending interventionist wars; we must seek to reduce abortions and strengthen families. When an election comes, we should pray and then, perhaps, lend our support to a candidate we judge may, on balance, advance social righteousness. But if the early Christians and the Anabaptists are right, this isn¿t the politics that matters most. And so, as a matter of faithfulness, we should question how much it deserves of our passion and time. Our allegiance belongs elsewhere.¿In contrast to an election campaign, this politics may feel grittier and less glamorous. This issue of Plough Quarterly explores what this alternate vision of faithful Christian witness in the political sphere might look like.Yoüll find articles on:What two leading political theorists of left and right agree onWhat persecution taught Anabaptists about politicsThe Bruderhof¿s interactions with the stateTolstoy¿s case against making war more humaneHow some Christians read Romans 13 under fascism

Communal music has the power to shape a soul and a society.In many places today, a culture of singing and making music remains robust, despite pressure from the commercial music industry. Or it was until the Covid pandemic hit and we glimpsed what a world without communal music-making could be like. According to Plato, virtuous music is vital for building a virtuous community. Jewish and Christian traditions take this insight even further: good communal music shapes and builds up the people of God. So how can we choose good music and avoid the bad? The sheer ubiquity of music available for consumption – its presence as a near-constant soundtrack to our daily lives – poses a hazard. Digital music on tap is a temptation to chronic distraction of the soul, to a habit of superficiality and non-attention. Fortunately, the remedy is straightforward: spend less time consuming prepackaged tunes and more time making music. This will be doubly rewarding if done with others – singing with one’s family, singing in church, playing in a string quartet, starting a regular jam session. If personal media players tend to cut us off from the physical presence of others, sharing in good music together breaks the spell of isolation and disembodiment. It builds friendship and community.On this theme:- Maureen Swinger’s amateur choir sings Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion.- Stephen Michael Newby says Black spirituals aren’t just for Black people. - Mary Townsend finds Dolly Parton magnificent, but would Aristotle? - Phil Christman finds catharsis in the YouTube comments of eighties songs. - Ben Crosby says congregational singing should be unabashedly weird to visitors.- Joseph Julián González draws on ancient Nahua poets in his music.- Christopher Tin explains why he weaves so many historical influences into his music.- Seven musicians talk about making your own music in schools, churches, prisons, backyards, or children’s bedrooms: Nathan Schram, Esther Keiderling, Norann Voll, Chaka Watch Ngwenya, Eileen Maendel, Adora Wong, and Brittany Petruzzi.Also in the issue: Exclusive excerpts from forthcoming books by Eugene Vodolazkin and Esther Maria Magnis- Thoughts on music from Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Hildegard of Bingen, Martin Luther, and Eberhard Arnold- Catholics and Anabaptists unite to commemorate the Radical Reformation- New poems by Jacqueline Saphra- A profile of Argentinian singer Mercedes Sosa.- Reviews of Kate Clifford Larson’s Walk with Me, Rowan Williams’s Shakeshafte, and Sam Quinones’s The Least of UsPlough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

Action-packed graphic novel perfect for fans of the Boxers& Saints series.Five hundred years ago, in an age marked by war, plague,inequality and religious coercion, there were people across Europe who dared toimagine a society of sharing, peace, and freedom of conscience. These radicalswere ready to die for their vision. They were executed by thousands – by water,by fire, and by sword – in both Catholic and Protestant states.  Theirstory comes to life in this graphic novel, the first in a series thatdramatically recreates a little-known chapter in the history of theReformation.By Water is the historically accurate account ofyoung people standing up for their convictions against the corrupt politicaland religious leaders of their day.

This best-selling volume addresses fears every human faces vulnerability, illness, aging, and dying. Yet at its core this book is more about living than dying. Arnold says living for a cause greater than ourselves enables us to face eternity with the strength that comes from faith. Drawing on stories of people he has known and counseled as pastor, relative, or friend, Arnold shows how suffering can be given meaning, and despair overcome. He offers the assurance that even today, in our culture of isolation and death, there is hope. As you read, youll meet individuals who lived life to the fullest by serving others and found a love that, as John says, casts out fear.

Though Christians the world over make yearly preparations for Lent, theres a conspicuous lack of good books for that other great spiritual season: Advent. All the same, this four-week period leading up to Christmas is making a comeback as growing numbers reject shopping-mall frenzy and examine the deeper meaning of the season.

From the winner of Russias biggest literary prizes, a richly layered novel in which a celebrated guitarist robbed of his talent by Parkinsons disease seeks other paths to immortality: by authorizing a biography and by mentoring a thirteen-year-old virtuoso battling cancer.This personal story of a lifetime quest for meaning will resonate with readers of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Umberto Eco, and Solzhenitsyn. Expanding the literary universe spun in his earlier novels, Vodolazkin explores music and fame, belonging and purpose, time and eternity. At the stunning finale of Brisbane, all the carefully knit stitches unravel into a riddle: Whose story is it the subjects or the writers? Are art and love really no match for death? Is Brisbane, the city of our dreams, our only hope for the future?

Where is God when your loved one gets cancer? The easy answers are all wrong.With or Without Me is an unsparing and eloquent critique of religion. Yet Esther Maria Magniss frustration is merely the beginning of a tortuous journey toward faith one punctuated by personal losses retold with bluntness and immediacy. If God is love, she writes, then its a kind of loveI do not understand. She dares to believe anyway, although her questioning wont let up. She fiercely dismantles both the clichs shes heard in church and the endless philosophizing of her parents generation.Magnis knows believing in God is anything but easy. Because he allows people to suffer. Because hes invisible. And silent. I think we miss God, she writes. I would never want to persuade anyone or put myself above atheists. I know there are good reasons not to believe. But sometimes I think most people are just sad that hes not there.With or Without Me is a book for everyone believer or unbeliever, Christian or atheist who refuses to surrender to the idea that there are easy answers to the big questions in life.

Offers a positive vision for rebuilding society after the pandemicDiverse contributors respond constructively to crisisReal-time record of Christian humanist response to pandemic, racial reckoning, leadership and economic crisis, a large-scale societal breakdown

Criar a un niño nunca ha sido más difícil. Si alguna vez dudas de tí mismo o te preguntas si vale la pena, lee este pequeño libro. Si te preocupas que tu familia no capea las tormentas de la vida o si tienes miedo de perder a tus hijos a la cultura dominante, léelo de nuevo. Porque importan los niños ofrece sabiduría bíblica y consejos de sentido común sobre la manera de mantener una familia y criar a tus hijos con carácter.

Setenta veces siete es una colección de histo­rias auténticas de hombres y mujeres como tú y yo, gente afectada por el racismo, la infidelidad matrimonial, la represión política, la brutalidad policial, el sufrimiento de la guerra, la muerte violenta de un ser querido. No se trata de una discusión abstracta o teórica. Al leer estos relatos, entramos en la vida de personas que han sufrido y han sabido perdonar (y de las que no han perdo­nado), de personas que descubrieron que el perdón tiene el poder de sanar aún las más profundas heridas (y de las que continúan en búsqueda de reconciliación).

Para quienes están hartos de la papilla espiritual servida hoy día en las vidrieras de tantas librerías, En busca de paz resultará comida fuerte y sana. Arnold no nos bombardea con recetas espirituales ni hace promesas ilusorias, sino que nos dice, sin ambages, lo que exige de nosotros la verdadera paz, que va más allá de la satisfacción de realizarse a sí mismo. Pero quien la busca, debe estar dispuesto a hacer sacrificios.

Johann Christoph Arnold, cuyos libros han ayudado a millones de lectores en los desafíos de la vida, desea que redescubramos las riquezas espirituales que la edad tiene para ofrecer.Ahora en sus setenta, Arnold se encuentra a sí mismo enfrentando las pruebas que vienen con la vejez. Pero él sabe, de décadas de experiencia pastoral, lo que pueden hacer las personas mayores y sus cuidadores para aprovechar al máximo el viaje.

From the stirring foreword by Henri Nouwen to the last page of Romero's text, this powerful volume of eloquent, simple meditations never wastes a word. Yet the real depth of Romero's message lies not in his words themselves, poetic as they are. It lies in the life they give witness to: the hard life of a man who was martyred for his faith.

El temor a los accidentes o a las acciones terroristas, a la enfermedad o la muerte, a la soledad o el dolor por la muerte de un ser querido . . . Si es usted como la mayoría de la gente, quizá esas ansiedades le estén privando de una paz que debería ser suya. En No tengas miedo, Arnold, un curtido asesor pastoral, que ha acompañado a muchas personas hasta el umbral de la muerte, narra cómo hombres, mujeres y niños corrientes encuentran la fortaleza para superar sus más grandes temores. Salpicado de anécdotas de maestros tan sabios como Tolstoi, Dickens y Dorothy Day, las palabras de Arnold ofrecen la seguridad de que, incluso en una época de ansiedad, se puede vivir la vida plenamente y salir al encuentro de la muerte con total seguridad en sí mismo.

En este libro revolucionario, Arnold, quien ha sido pastor durante casi cuarenta años, aborda el dolor resultante de la ruptura de relaciones y el abuso de la intimidad sexual. Él proporciona ideas bíblicas frescas sobre los asuntos críticos que incluyen la santidad del sexo, la lucha contra la tentación, la decisión de mantenerse soltero o casado, la educación de los hijos, el divorcio y el casarse nuevamente. Dios, sexo y matrimonio, ofrece sanación a cualquiera que haya conocido el desaliento o la culpa ¿ y le da esperanzas a cualquiera que desee tener una mirada completamente nueva sobre un tema de interés y preocupación universal.

A stunning photo essay paired with 100 stories of members gives a rare glimpse into the Bruderhof, a Christian community that has stood the test of time.Yes, it is possible to create a society where there are no rich or poor, where children and elderly are welcome, where no one lives in isolation. Meet 100 individuals from diverse backgrounds who ventured everything to build a life together where everyone belongs and each can contribute, pooling their income, possessions, talents, and energy.As the community marks its first 100 years, the people in this book tell why they have chosen this radical way of life and share insights gleaned along the way. Their stories represent a cross section of the Bruderhof as an international and intergenerational community. With photography by British photojournalist Danny Burrows, this book celebrates what is possible when people take a leap of faith. It will inspire anyone working to build a more just, peaceful, and sustainable future.

The biblical foundations of a Christian communal movement that has stood the test of five centuries.While in prison from 1540 to 1542, Riedemann wrote to the Lutheran ruler, Philip of Hesse, explaining the Hutterite goal of a renewed community and dispelling popular misconceptions. The Hutterites quickly accepted Riedemann's confession as their own.Riedemann creatively weaves together a fresh reading of the Bible with the classical creeds, producing a powerful synthesis of Scripture and tradition on which to base Christian community. His dynamic vision of radical and communal discipleship still challenges believers toward greater faithfulness to the Lord and to each other.Riedemann's confession gives theological grounding for the Hutterite understanding of economic communalism and offers practical examples of it. This confession continues to guide Hutterite communities today.This volume includes an English translation of the 1565 German edition of Confession of Our Religion, Teaching, and Faith, by the Brothers Who Are Known as the Hutterites along with a new history of Riedemann. It is the ninth volume in the Classics of the Radical Reformation, a series of Anabaptist and Free Church documents translated and annotated under the direction of the Institute of Mennonite Studies.