Eberhard Arnold (1883–1935) 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.

Arnold calls us to build up a just, peaceable society motivated by love.In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus puts aside his usual parables and speaks plainly in language anyone can understand. Like Francis of Assisi and others, Arnold chose to live out Jesus' teachings by embracing their self- sacrificing demands. In this collection of talks and essays, he calls us to live for the Sermon's ultimate goal: the overturning of the prevailing order of injustice. In its place, Arnold writes, we must build up a just, peaceable society motivated by love.