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.

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
An admirable, excellent book needed by a world which has turned against the Great Teaching of Jesus. --Pitirim A. Sorokin, Harvard University
Expecting everything from God and from God alone, certain that his seed and his light are in all people, Eberhard Arnold permits no compromise in witnessing to the way of nonviolence and nonpossession that he sees exemplified by Jesus. --Friends Journal
A little known but powerfully articulate saint, Arnold lived faithfully in difficult circumstances. For preachers who preach from Matthew 5–7, this book will be a benefit. --Clergy Journal
The founder of the Bruderhof offers reflections on the Sermon on the Mount that stress God’s forgiveness. Eberhard Arnold calls people to a life on complete trust in God so that their attitude toward God’s kingdom, other people, material wealth, and earthly power are transformed. --Christianity Today
My life has been greatly enriched by reading Salt and Light. The eternal truth of its contents at times gives me the feeling that I am reading scripture. You have done humankind a service by making this available. --Clarence Jordan, Koinonia Farms

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.