When the Time Was Fulfilled: Christmas Meditations

About Alfred DelpChristoph Friedrich BlumhardtEberhard Arnold

Eberhard Arnold (18831935) studied theology philosophy and education and was widely sought as a speaker at student conferences and other gatherings. In 1920 leaving a promising career as a writer and the privileges of upper-middle- class life in Berlin he moved with his wife and children to Sannerz a small village in central Germany where they founded a Christian community on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor politician and author Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (18421919) with his unconventional ideas about the kingdom of God profoundly influenced a whole generation of European seekers. Among the luminaries he influenced were Dietrich Bonhoeffer Emil Brunner Oscar Cullman and Karl Barth. Yet his vision and witness are still waiting to be discovered by most Americans few of whom have had access to his works. He carried forward the work of his father Johann Christoph Blumhardt (18051880) who is regarded by many as the key figure of German pietism.