Re: Introduction to the Anabaptists

Bruderhof wrote:

> During 1901 the Breslau bible study group was captivated by a young 
> aristocrat from East Prussia. In an account of his youth, Eberhard
> refers to this man as “von Gürten.” He was set on uncompromising and
> clear discipleship of Jesus, but forced himself and others into a
> straitjacket of rules and regulations. Though passionately
> enthusiastic in manner, von Gürten was also overbearing and
> domineering. He never had a good word for other Christians. At first
> the study group members admired him almost unreservedly with only a
> vague feeling that his attitude threatened to restrict their newly won
> faith and freedom. As time went on, however, they backed off from his
> influence. Yet in spite of the divisions he caused, he was an
> important inspiration to many. And it was von Gürten who first kindled
> Eberhard’s interest in early church history, which then led him to ask
> his father about the sixteenth-century Anabaptist movement. 
> 

Eberhard had finally found a topic his father could support, though it 
troubled Carl Franklin Arnold a little that his son was interested in – of

all things – what seemed to him an unsuccessful offshoot of the 
Reformation. Nonetheless, he put his research library of scholarly books
at 
his son’s disposal and entertained long conversations about the Anabaptist

movement, comparing its path to the course of Martin Luther’s church.