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Eric Metaxas

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Eric Metaxas
Metaxas in 2012
Metaxas in 2012
Born1963
New York, New York
OccupationAuthor, talk show host
Alma materYale University
Genre
Website
www.ericmetaxas.com

Eric Metaxas (born 1963) is an American author, speaker, and radio host. He is 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 host of the nationally syndicated radio program, The Eric Metaxas Show [1]

Biography

Metaxas was born in Astoria, Queens in New York City, 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]

Metaxas was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church and while he has not formally left it (saying he has "great respect" for it) he attends an Evangelical Episcopal church in New York.[4] Metaxas describes himself as a "Mere Christian" after the works of C.S. Lewis, saying his books "don't touch upon anything at all where Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians differ. They express just the basics of the faith, from a basic, ecumenical Christian viewpoint. They only talk about the Christian faith that they have agreement on."[4]

Writing

Metaxas's works If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty and Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life are both New York Times best selling books.[5][6] Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy won the 2010 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Christian Book of the Year.[7] Bonhoeffer is a New York Times best seller, climbing to #1 in the e-book category.[8] It also won the 2011 John C. Pollock Award for Christian Biography awarded by Beeson Divinity School and a 2011 Christopher Award.[9][10]

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.[11] The biography has also been criticized by Bonhoeffer scholars Victoria Barnett[12] and Clifford Green.[13] However, several literary critics have praised Metaxas' work as a "weighty, riveting analysis of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer" and a "complete biography of a great theologian" with "liberal use of primary sources."[14][15][16]

Metaxas's biography of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, was the companion book to the 2006 film.[17]

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.[citation needed]

Other writing has been published in the Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.[18][19]

Radio show

In April 2015, Metaxas began hosting the two-hour, daily The Eric Metaxas Show. He broadcasts from the Empire State Building in New York. The show is syndicated by the Salem Radio Network.[20] Recent notable guests include Dick Cavett, David Brooks, Kirsten Powers, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Jimmie "J.J." Walker.[21]

Other activities

Metaxas is the founder and host of a New York City event series called "Socrates in the City: Conversations on the Examined Life," where he interviews thinkers and writers, and is labeled as a forum on "life, God, and other small topics" in Metaxas' book about the series.[22] 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, Peter Hitchens and Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks have all been guests.[23]

Metaxas has been featured as a cultural commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and the Fox News Channel, most frequently on the show "Red Eye";[24] 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.[25]

On February 2, 2012, Metaxas was the keynote speaker for the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast.[26]

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.[27][28][29]

On March 25, 2014 Metaxas was announced as "Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Large" of The King's College in New York City.

Awards

Metaxas is the winner of several awards for his work, including the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal in 2011 and the Human Life Review's Defender of Life Award in 2013.[30][31] Metaxas is the recipient of three honorary doctorate degrees, one from Hillsdale College, another from Liberty University, and the most recent from Sewanee: The University of the South.[32][33][34]

References

  1. ^ "Eric Metaxas Show". Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  2. ^ Harper Collins author bio
  3. ^ "Deep thrills". ericmetaxas.com. June 19, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Vicki J. Yiannias (August 1, 2007). "Eric Metaxas and the God Question". Greek News.
  5. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2016/07/17/hardcover-nonfiction/
  6. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2014/11/16/hardcover-nonfiction/?action=click&contentCollection=Books&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fbooks%2Fbest-sellers%2F2014%2F11%2F30%2Fhardcover-nonfiction%2F&region=Header&module=ArrowNav&version=Right&pgtype=Reference
  7. ^ "Christian Book Expo 2009: Christian Book Award". Christianbookexpo.com. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  8. ^ "The New York Times Best Sellers". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  9. ^ "John C. Pollock Award for Christian Biography". Beeson Divinity School Samford University. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "The Christophers". The Christophers. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  11. ^ Richard Weikart, "Metaxas' Counterfeit Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Critique: Review of Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy", California State University. [1]
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ Green, Clifford (October 5, 2010). "Hijacking Bonhoeffer". The Christian Century. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  14. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich by Eric Metaxas, Author". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  15. ^ Klamm, Judy. "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas". Kansas City Public Library. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "BONHOEFFER by Eric Metaxas". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  17. ^ Metaxas, Eric. "Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas". Harpercollins.com. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  18. ^ Eric, Metaxas (February 16, 2001). "No More Pluto, No More Taupe". NYTimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  19. ^ Eric, Metaxas (December 25, 2014). "Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God". WSJ. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  20. ^ "Salem Media Group and Eric Metaxas Join Forces with a New Daily Show". PR News Wire. CAMARILLO, Calif. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  21. ^ "Have you heard the Eric Metaxas Show? Highlights Ahead!". www.ericmetaxas.com. June 13, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  22. ^ "Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City". Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  23. ^ "Socrates in the City". Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  24. ^ "Search Results for "red eye metaxas"". Fox News. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  25. ^ "About BreakPoint". Prison Fellowship. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  26. ^ "Obama says faith mandates him to care for the poor". The Washington Post. May 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  27. ^ "Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe, Threat to other Faiths & Democracy Addressed at Hearing". Chris Smith. February 27, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  28. ^ "Eric Metaxas CPAC 2013". YouTube. March 16, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  29. ^ "CPAC 2014 - Eric Metaxas, Author". YouTube. March 7, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  30. ^ "The Canterbury Medal Dinner". The Becket Fund. 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  31. ^ "Great Defender of Life Dinner". The Human Life Review. 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  32. ^ "Hillsdale". Hillsdale. 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  33. ^ "Liberty University Baccalaureate Speaker Eric Metaxas Fortifies Graduates for a Life of Faith, Receives Honorary Doctorate". PRWeb. 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  34. ^ "Easter Convocation Will Bestow Doctor of Divinity Degrees". Sewanee: The University of the South. 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
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