New York, NY

ERIC METAXAS

NYT Best-Selling Author Bonhoeffer:Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy

Eric Metaxas magnificently captures the life of theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his New York Times bestseller, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy who "thought it the plain duty of the Christian—and the privilege and honor—to suffer with those who suffered." In the finest treatment of the man since Eberhard Bethge's Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage, Metaxas presents a complete, accessible picture of this important figure, whose story is inspiring, instructive and international in scope.

Coming of age in Germany at the close of World War I, the precocious Bonhoeffer quickly became a rising star on the international theological scene.

**NEW**

BONHOEFFER:
Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY - Week of 5/17/10: In this weighty, riveting analysis of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Metaxas (Amazing Grace) offers a comprehensive review of one of history’s darkest eras, along with a fascinating exploration of the familial, cultural and religious influences that formed one of the world’s greatest contemporary theologians. A passionate narrative voice combines with meticulous research to unpack the confluence of circumstances and personalities that led Germany from the defeat of WWI to the atrocities of WWII. Abundant source documentation (sermons, letters, journal entries, lectures, the Barman Declaration) brings to life the personalities and experiences that shaped Bonhoeffer: his highly intellectual, musical family; theologically liberal professors, pastoral colleagues and students; his extensive study, work, and travel abroad. Tracing Bonhoeffer’s developing call to be a Jeremiah-like prophet in his own time and a growing understanding that the church was called “to speak for those who could not speak,” Metaxas details Bonhoeffer’s role in religious resistance to Nazism, and provides a compelling account of the faith journey that eventually involved the Lutheran pastor in unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler. Insightful and illuminating, this tome makes a powerful contribution to biography, history and theology.

* * * * * * * * * * *

In a decidedly eclectic career, Eric Metaxas has written for VeggieTales, Chuck Colson, and the New York Times, three things not ordinarily in the same sentence.

Eric Metaxas grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, attending the public schools there, and graduated from Yale University. At Yale he made a literary splash as editor of the Yale Record, the nation’s oldest college humor magazine. Metaxas’ humor writing was first published in the Atlantic Monthly, and has appeared in The New York Times. Woody Allen has called these pieces “quite funny.” Eric’s book and movie reviews, essays, and poetry have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Regeneration Quarterly, Christianity Today, National Review Online, Beliefnet, and First Things.

From 1988-1992, Metaxas was editorial director and head writer for Rabbit Ears Productions, writing over 20 children’s videos and books. Metaxas was for two years a writer and editor for Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint, a nationally syndicated daily radio program with over 400 stations and a weekly audience of five million. He then worked as a writer for VeggieTales. He has been frequently featured as a cultural commentator on CNN and the Fox News Channel; and has discussed his own books on C-Span’s Book TV and Hannity & Colmes. He has been featured on many radio programs, including NPR’s Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation, Hugh Hewitt, the Bob Grant Show, Janet Parshall’s America, Monica Crowley, and The Alan Colmes Show. He is the founder and host of Socrates in the City: Conversations on the Examined Life, a monthly event of “entertaining and thought-provoking discussions on ‘life, God, and other small topics”.

Eric has debated at the Oxford Union and speaks widely on a variety of topics. He was this past year the featured speaker at the Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Baton Rouge. In 2007 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the prestigious British-American Project, the only person ever to have been afforded this privilege.

Eric’s acclaimed biography, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery was published by HarperSanFrancisco, and is the “official companion book” to the feature film, also titled Amazing Grace.

Bonhoeffer was recently awarded the ECPA 2011 Christian Book of the Year Award and the 2011 Gold Medallion Book Award in the Nonfiction category

Here is what others are saying about his book:
"Bravo! Metaxas story reads like fiction... A masterful reintroduction to Wilberforce for our generation."
David S. Kidder
Creator/Co-Author NYTimes Bestseller The Intellectual Devotional

“...a superb introduction to history’s greatest and most surprising social reformer. It will jolt the cynical and inspire the visionary.”
Os Guinness
author of The Call

"Metaxas’s book, well researched and written in a lively and sparkling style, will stir your heart."
George Gallup, Jr.

"[M]agnificent... Metaxas’ work will stand as a living landmark."
The Rev. Floyd Flake
President
Wilberforce University
Former U.S. Congressman (NY)

"If Wilberforce is your hero, as he is mine, this is the book for you."
J.C. Watts, Jr.
Former U.S. congressman (OK)

"...Crackles with verve, intelligence, wit and insight."
Dick Staub
Broadcaster and Author

"Metaxas... is an irresistible writer. [He tells this story] with such a sharp eye and ready wit and moral passion that we are caught up in the momentum of it and blown away..."
John Wilson
BOOKS&CULTURE: A Christian Review

What Others Are Saying about Eric Metaxas:
[Metaxas’] speaking style, a combination of edgy wit, charm, inspiration, evangelization, thoughtfulness and historical narrative of lessons learned and values by which to live, took the crowd through laughter, pensiveness, inspiration and motivation. The feedback on the entire night was tremendous, with unsolicited compliments calling it the best gala ever.
FAMILY FOUNDATION OF VIRGINIA

Eric Metaxas... is both a former colleague and a long-time friend. Eric is a man of great character and integrity. He's very serious about his Christian faith and living a responsible witness in his life. Eric is also a man of immense creative talent. He catches ideas quickly, sees through things and gets to the heart of them. He has a lively, wide-ranging imagination. He has done some superb writing because he often sees what others dont and has the capacity to express it very powerfully. Eric is a gifted writer and gifted raconteur. He is clever and quick. I can recommend Eric Metaxas without qualification.
Chuck Colson
Prison Fellowship Ministries

Christians who can cross effectively into the secular world are all too rare today, and Christians who can do this in the area of the arts are rarer still. But the rarest of all are those with creative, and especially comic, gifts. Eric Metaxas is therefore one of the rarest as well as one of the most brilliant gifts in the church today.

Well educated and well read, Eric is a deep thinker who is also articulate and genuinely interested in the lives and ideas of others, and in the issues swirling around public life today. From writing scripts, reviews, and books to interviewing to public speaking to doing hilarious comic acts, Eric is supremely gifted, irrepressibly creative, and astonishingly versatile. And all that he does comes from the core of his deeply held faith.

I have often said that Eric Metaxas is our best shot to have a Christ-centered Larry David. The trouble is that he is also our best candidate to be our Hans Christian Andersen or Dick Cavett or Charlie Rose. In short, Eric is an undiscovered treasure, and the whole Christian world will be in debt to the person or group that helps bring his gifts to the wider stage on which they can shine.
Dr. Os Guinness
Senior Fellow
The Trinity Forum

In a recent piece for Harpers magazine, journalist Jeff Sharlet exposed the secret theocracy that runs America. The article was widely noticed, but in fact Sharlet had failed to uncover an even more elite, more covert organization. I refer to the Committee to Promote the Genius of Eric Metaxas (COPGEM), founded in Savannah in December 2000. (The membership of COPGEM, of course, must remain a closely guarded secret.)

Eric is subversively and seriously funny, a man of strong Christian convictions whose disarming charm allows him to move easily through the standard defenses of the cultural establishment. Given the forum of a well-produced television talk-show -- the perfect vehicle for his gifts -- he might well become a Malcolm Muggeridge for our time, a powerful influence for the good, the true, and the beautiful.
John Wilson
Editor
Books & Culture

Eric Metaxas was one of the most popular speakers I have ever brought to Union University. His rapier wit, compelling content, and communication skills resonated widely across the campus with faculty, staff, and especially students. Weeks after his chapel address, people were still talking about Eric.
GREG ALAN THORNBURY, PH.D.
DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN STUDIES
UNION UNIVERSITY

Link to This Speaker Page