Johann Christoph Blumhardt

Friedrich Zündel (1827–1891), a Swiss pastor, author, and essayist, is best known for his landmark biography of Johann Christoph Blumhardt, whom he knew well. First published in 1880, it has been re-issued dozens of times and remains in print. Zündel went on to write two other books in German, Jesus (1884) and In the Apostles’ Time (1886). Christian T. Collins Winn (PhD, Drew University) is Associate Professor of Theology at the Global Center for Advanced Studies, College Dublin, and a licensed minister in the American Baptist Churches (USA). He is author of “Jesus is Victor!” The Significance of the Blumhardts for the Theology of Karl Barth. Charles E. Moore is co-editor, with Christian T. Collins Winn, of The Blumhardt Source Series. He has also edited several acclaimed popular collections of Blumhardt writings, including Action in Waiting, Everyone Belongs to God, and The God Who Heals. Other books he has compiled and edited include Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People, Bearing Witness: Stories of Martyrdom and Costly Discipleship, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, and Leo Tolstoy: Spiritual Writings. Charles Moore is a member of the Bruderhof and lives at the Mount Community in New York State with his wife and daughter. He writes for Plough Quarterly and blogs at Bruderhof.com.

Still relevant for our time, Christoph Blumhardt was and is my spiritual father. I am extremely pleased that this series is coming to fruition. I congratulate the editors.--Jurgen MoltmannAn impressive effort of considerable value.--Bernard McGinnToday's church is dying for examples for what it means to be faithful. It is, therefore, a great and good thing that the collected works of the Blumhardts will now be made available. The Blumhardts not only saw what a faithful church might look like, they exemplified it in their wide-ranging writings and work. This series is a boon to the church.--Stanley HauerwasThis project is an important venture . . . It is hard to imagine a more influential team upon Barth than the Blumhardts. They gave Barth a great vision of a lively, intruding God. . . Jesus is Victor!--William WillimonIn plain and profound language, and rooted in their pastoral experience, the Blumhardts wrote with startling, deep conviction about the kingdom's social as well as its personal reality. Their words are all the more pertinent for us today. The Blumhardt Series is a major event for the witness and work of the church in the twenty-first century.--Rodney ClappKarl Barth once noted that German systematic theology missed out on the Blumhardts in a sleepy daze. One can only wonder how much was lost, including the vibrant spirituality, the progressive politics, and the strong sense of the reality of the work of God for which these men were known. Once again we need to be awakened from our slumbers, and the Blumhardts could be catalysts in this process, reminding us that theology and the church must be squarely located in the pressures and struggles of this world.--Jörg Rieger