Eric Metaxas

Eric Metaxas

Eric Metaxas, 2012
Born 1963
Astoria, Queens
Alma mater Yale University
Notable works Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
Spouse Susanne Metaxas
Children 1 Daughter
Website
www.ericmetaxas.com

Eric Metaxas (born 1963) is an American author, speaker, and TV host. He is best known for two biographies, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery about William Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He has also written humor, children's books, and scripts for VeggieTales. Metaxas is the founder and host of the NYC-based event series, "Socrates in the City: Conversations on the Examined Life" and the co-host of the nationally syndicated weekly Sunday morning program, 100 Huntley Street.[1]

Biography

Metaxas was born in Astoria, Queens, grew up in Danbury, Connecticut and graduated from Yale University, where he edited the Yale Record, the nation's oldest college humor magazine. Metaxas lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.[2] He is Greek on his father's side and German on his mother's, while he was raised in a Greek Orthodox environment.[3]

Writing

Metaxas's Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy won the 2010 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Christian Book of the Year.[4] Bonhoeffer is a New York Times best seller, climbing to #1 in the e-book category.[5] It also won the 2011 John C. Pollock Award for Christian Biography awarded by Beeson Divinity School and a 2011 Christopher Award.[6][7]

Although the book is popular in the United States among evangelical Christians, Bonhoeffer scholars have criticized Metaxas's book as unhistorical, theologically weak, and philosophically naive. Professor of German History and Bonhoeffer scholar Richard Weikart, for example, credits Metaxas's "engaging writing style," but points out his lack of intellectual background to interpret Bonhoeffer properly.[8] The biography has also been criticized by Bonhoeffer scholars Victoria Barnett[9] and Clifford Green.[10]

Metaxas's biography of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, was the companion book to the 2006 film.[11]

He has also written over thirty children's books, including It's Time to Sleep, My Love and Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. He has written scripts for VeggieTales (even the Hamlet parody "Omelet" from "Lyle the Kindly Viking") and provided the voice of the narrator in "Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen", based on the Book of Esther.

Other writing has been published in the Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times.[2]

Radio show

During an appearance at the International Christian Media Convention in late February 2015, Metaxes announced that he had just that day accepted an offer to host a two-hour, daily radio show to be entitled "The Eric Metaxas Show." He announced that the show would start broadcasts in April 2015 from the Empire State Building in New York City. [12]

Awards

Metaxas is the winner of awards for his work in the areas of religious liberty and the right to life, including the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal in 2011 and the Human Life Review's Defender of Life Award in 2013.[13][14] Metaxas is the recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees, one from Hillsdale College and the other from Liberty University.[15][16]

Other activities

Metaxas is the founder and host of a New York City event series on topics related to culture and religion called "Socrates in the City: Conversations on the Examined Life," where he interviews thinkers and writers. Dr. Francis Collins, Malcolm Gladwell, Sir John Polkinghorne, Kathleen Norris, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Dick Cavett, N.T. Wright, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Dame Alice von Hildebrand, and Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks have all been guests.[17]

Metaxas has been featured as a cultural commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and the Fox News Channel; and has discussed his own books on The History Channel, C-Span's Book TV, the Glenn Beck Program, and Huckabee. He has been featured on many radio programs, including NPR's Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, The Laura Ingraham Show, and On Being with Krista Tippett, as well as Hugh Hewitt, Bill Bennett, Kerby Anderson's Point of View, and The Alan Colmes Show.

In the late 1990s Metaxas wrote BreakPoint radio commentaries for former Nixon aide and Prison Fellowship founder Charles “Chuck” Colson. Upon Colson’s death in 2012, Metaxas, along with John Stonestreet, became the voice of “BreakPoint,” which now airs weekdays on 1350 outlets across the country.[18]

On February 2, 2012, Metaxas was the keynote speaker for the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast.[19]

Metaxas has testified before Congress about the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and abroad, and he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2013 and 2014 on the issue of Religious Freedom.[20][21][22]

References

  1. ↑ "100 Huntley Street". Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harper Collins author bio
  3. ↑ "Deep thrills". ericmetaxas.com. June 19, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Christian Book Expo 2009: Christian Book Award". Christianbookexpo.com. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  5. ↑ "The New York Times Best Sellers". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ "John C. Pollock Award for Christian Biography". Beeson Divinity School Samford University. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  7. ↑ "The Christophers". The Christophers. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  8. ↑ Richard Weikart, "Metaxas' Counterfeit Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Critique: Review of Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy", California State University.
  9. ↑ "Review of Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich". Journal.ambrose.edu. September 3, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  10. ↑ Green, Clifford (October 5, 2010). "Hijacking Bonhoeffer". The Christian Century. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  11. ↑ Metaxas, Eric. "Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas". Harpercollins.com. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Salem Media Group and Eric Metaxas Join Forces with a New Daily Show". PR News Wire. CAMARILLO, Calif. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "The Canterbury Medal Dinner". The Becket Fund. 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Great Defender of Life Dinner". The Human Life Review. 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Hillsdale". Hillsdale. 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Liberty University Baccalaureate Speaker Eric Metaxas Fortifies Graduates for a Life of Faith, Receives Honorary Doctorate". PRWeb. 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Socrates in the City". Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  18. ↑ "About BreakPoint". Prison Fellowship. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Obama says faith mandates him to care for the poor". The Washington Post. May 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe, Threat to other Faiths & Democracy Addressed at Hearing". Chris Smith. February 27, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Eric Metaxas CPAC 2013". YouTube. March 16, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  22. ↑ "CPAC 2014 - Eric Metaxas, Author". YouTube. March 7, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2014.

External links