The Living Word
Inner Land – A Guide into the Heart of the Gospel, Volume 5
by Eberhard Arnold
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Pub Date Mar 23 2021 | Archive Date Mar 09 2021
Plough Publishing | Plough Publishing House
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Description
The living word, Eberhard Arnold writes, is greater than the words of the Bible, which even the devil used to tempt Jesus. The scriptures on their own can never produce the righteousness, mercy, and faithfulness that count before God.
But when the Holy Spirit speaks this living word into the hearts of those who have set out on the way of discipleship to Christ, the deepest meaning of the scriptures are opened up to them. Those who have accepted this living word, which never contradicts the Bible, also agree with one another. Transformed from within, they receive the strength, clarity, and unity they need to carry out the task God has given them – to make God’s kingdom a reality on earth.
The final volume of five in Inner Land, The Living Word includes a preface by Eberhard Arnold’s son J. Heinrich Arnold, who has written elsewhere: “My father not only believed that Inner Land was the most important book he had written; he also believed and told me that he included in this book everything in his life he had ever experienced of Christ, of the suffering of humankind, of the murderous spirit of mammon, of human life and divine life altogether.”
About Innerland: It is hard to exaggerate the significance of Innerland, either for Eberhard Arnold or his readers. It absorbed his energies off and on for most of his adult life – from World War I, when he published the first chapter under the title War: A Call to Inwardness, to 1935, the last year of his life.
Packed in metal boxes and buried at night for safekeeping from the Nazis, who raided the author’s study a year before his death (and again a year after it), Innerland was not openly critical of Hitler’s regime. Nevertheless, it attacked the spirits that animated German society: its murderous strains of racism and bigotry, its heady nationalistic fervor, its mindless mass hysteria, and its vulgar materialism. In this sense Innerland stands as starkly opposed to the zeitgeist of our own day as to that of the author’s.
At a glance, the focus of Innerland seems to be the cultivation of the spiritual life as an end in itself. Nothing could be more misleading. In fact, to Eberhard Arnold the very thought of encouraging the sort of selfish solitude whereby people seek their own private peace by shutting out the noise and rush of public life around them is anathema. He writes in The Inner Life:
“These are times of distress. We cannot retreat, willfully blind to the overwhelming urgency of the tasks pressing on society. We cannot look for inner detachment in an inner and outer isolation...The only justification for withdrawing into the inner self to escape today's confusing, hectic whirl would be that fruitfulness is enriched by it. It is a question of gaining within, through unity with eternal powers, a strength of character ready to be tested in the stream of the world.”
Advance Praise
The undeniable power of Arnold’s writing owes to the fact that there is no difference between what he professed to believe and the way he lived. It gives his words a resonance and depth, a right to be heard. --Juli Loesch Wiley, New Oxford Review
The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of persons with Christ as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant. Arnold’s vision incarnates just such a community. --Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
Innerland calls men and women to a life of such trust in God that their attitudes toward his kingdom, other people, material wealth, and earthly power are transformed. --Christianity Today
Arnold’s writing has all the simple, luminous, direct vision into things that I have come to associate with his name. It has the authentic ring of a truly evangelical Christianity and moves me deeply. It stirs to repentance and renewal. --Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain
Arnold’s writings are a light of hope in an age which seems very dark. May they no longer remain hidden under a bushel, but shine out to be heeded by many. --Jürgen Moltmann
The witness of Eberhard Arnold is a much needed corrective to an American church that has lost the vital, biblical connection between belief and obedience. --Jim Wallis, Sojourners
Innerland is a bold and challenging invitation to the path of discipleship that speaks to both the terrors and the hopes of our time. Along with the likes of John Woolman, Thomas Kelly, and Dorothy Day, Eberhard Arnold is one of the great secrets of radical Christianity. The reprinting of this masterpiece is truly a gift. –Chris Faatz, Powell’s Books
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781636080154 |
| PRICE | $20.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 130 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
G. Connor S, Media/Journalist
Arnold's emphasis on pacifism and putting no trust in human authorities may strike many American evangelicals as odd, but he makes good cases for his points. Given his WWII German context, some of those points have a rather haunting, prophetic quality to them. Throughout, Arnold gives readers a great sense of God's goodness and the value of living a life that relies on god and God alone. A fitting conclusion to the Inner Land collection.
James G, Reviewer
A very good argument for not just reading the Bible the Pharisees did that and were condemned because they didn't do what they were told in scripture just read and quoted
Miriam J, Reviewer
The Living Word Inner Land – A Guide into the Heart of the Gospel, Volume 5 – by Eberhard Arnold, pastor, theologian and founder of the Bruderhof, is a book worthy of being studied by Christian readers.
The Living Word, Eberhard Arnold writes, is the inspired Word of God. When the Holy Spirit speaks this Living Word into the hearts of disciples of Christ, the deepest meaning of the sacred Scriptures opens up to them. They are transformed inwardly and receive the strength to carry out God’s appointed tasks assigned to them – to make God’s kingdom a living reality on earth.
The final volume of five in Inner Land, Eberhard Arnold’s son, J. Heinrich Arnold, writes: “My father believed that Inner Land was his most important book. He included in it everything he ever experienced of Christ, of the suffering of humankind, of human life and divine life altogether.” “The only justification for withdrawing into the inner self would be to enrich fruitfulness, to gain within, through unity with eternal powers, a strength of character ready to be tested in the stream of the world.” Such beautiful, time-tested words to inspire Christian believers.
The undeniable power of Arnold’s writing is because he believed what he preached and lived it out in daily life. It gives his words a deep resonance and unbelievable depth, earning him the undisputed right to be heard.
Innerland inspires us to trust in God so that our attitudes are transformed. Arnold’s writing, with its luminous, direct vision, has the authentic ring of a truly evangelical Christianity, that stirs hearts to repentance and renewal.
Arnold’s writings are a light of hope in a dark age. They must not be hidden under a bushel, but shine out like a beacon of light to illuminate the world with Christ’s love. The witness of Eberhard Arnold is much needed for the Christian church to biblically connect belief and obedience.
Innerland is a challenging invitation to the path of uncompromised discipleship. Eberhard Arnold knew the extraordinary secrets of radical Christianity. He imbibed a radical vision for a society transformed by the illuminating teachings and indomitable Spirit of Jesus.
In his writings, Eberhard Arnold lives out the gospel in daily life. He approaches discipleship as a revolution – an inner transformation that spreads outwards to encompass every aspect of life.
Arnold writes in the tradition of radical obedience to the gospel, with a haunting, prophetic quality, giving us a great sense of God’s amazing goodness and the value of relying on God alone. This book is a befitting conclusion to the inspiring Inner Land collection. I highly recommend it.
Angelia S, Reviewer
In this small, but amazing book, Eberhart Arnold speaks to us of a Bible that isn't just dead words on a page, but a living, breathing gift from God. It is a call to action on living a Christian life that is as timely today as it was when it was published in 1936. Thank you Plough Publishing for bringing this series of books out for a new generation.
A free copy of this e-book was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Wayne M, Reviewer
'The Living Word: Inner Land - A Guide into the Heart of theh Gospel, Vol. 5' by Eberhard Arnold is based on writings that were packed in metal boxes and buried to keep them from the Nazis.
First publishd in 1936, this 5 part series has a different focus in every book. This book talks about how the Bible is the living word of God, but not of itself. Anyone can read the Bible, but without the Holy Spirit, it lacks the ability to produce righteousness and other Godly qualities.
I liked what this book had to say. The uninspired reading of the Bible and misquoting it have led to reliogisty and worse. I enjoyed this journey to the Inner Land.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Plough Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
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