{"id":649,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:35","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/metaxaslecture\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:35","slug":"metaxaslecture","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/metaxaslecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaimed author and essayist Eric Metaxas to lecture at WestConn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 Acclaimed author, essayist and cultural commentator Eric Metaxas will share lessons and insights drawn from his new biography of the 20th century German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer as he delivers the annual Macricostas Lecture on Friday, April 16<\/strong>, at Western Connecticut State University.<\/p>\n

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Metaxas, author of the newly published work \u201cBonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,\u201d will discuss the life of the Christian theologian whose active participation in the anti-Nazi \u201cConfessing Church\u201d movement and the anti-Hitler German Resistance before and during World War II ultimately led to his arrest and execution in April 1945. His lecture will be presented by the WCSU School of Arts and Sciences as part of the Macricostas Lecture Series, funded by a grant from the foundation of Brookfield industrialist and philanthropist Constantine \u201cDeno\u201d Macricostas and his wife Marie.<\/p>\n

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Metaxas will speak at 7 p.m. in Room 125 of the Science Building on the university\u2019s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. The author will sign copies of his new book at a reception immediately following the lecture in the Science Building Atrium. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend.<\/p>\n

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His lecture will mark a homecoming for the Danbury native who attended public schools in the city during the 1960s and 1970s before embarking on an undergraduate education at Yale University and an eclectic career in writing, editing and commentary over the past three decades. He has earned international acclaim as a cultural and religious commentator, humor essayist, poet, reviewer, children\u2019s book author, national radio show editor, and nonfiction writer. His previous books include \u201cEverything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)\u201d and two sequels, and the New York Times bestselling biography \u201cAmazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metaxas\u2019s humor writing, essays, reviews and poems have appeared in a wide range of publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Christianity Today, National Review Online, and Books & Culture. He has written more than 30 children\u2019s books including \u201cIt\u2019s Time to Sleep, My Love,\u201d cited among the Top 100 books on Barnes & Noble.com in October 2008, and has served as an editorial director for Rabbit Ears Productions and writer and narrator for Veggie Tales. A frequent commentator on CNN and Fox News, he served for two years as writer and editor for Charles Colson\u2019s nationally syndicated radio program \u201cBreakpoint,\u201d and his humor pieces include \u201cDon\u2019t You Believe It!\u201d a book-length parody of the Ripley\u2019s \u201cBelieve It or Not!\u201d books.<\/p>\n

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WCSU Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Dr. Linda Vaden-Goad said Metaxas\u2019s remarkably accomplished and diverse resume of professional experiences \u2014 complemented by a lively intellect, quick wit and talent for public speaking \u2014 made him an ideal choice to address a theme in harmony with the \u201cCultures of the World\u201d focus that is part of the Macricostas Lecture Series. She noted Metaxas\u2019s roots in the Danbury area and gift for connecting with college audiences also are well suited to the vision of Deno Macricostas, who has known the speaker since his childhood and will introduce him at the lecture.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love the fact that he grew up here,\u201d Vaden-Goad said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for our students to be able to hear him and meet him. The more they meet people who write books like these, the more they will believe it is a real possibility for them to achieve this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metaxas expressed pleasure at the opportunity to speak before a Danbury audience. \u201cNothing could make me happier! I\u2019m thrilled,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up in Danbury, and my 30th Danbury High School reunion is this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metaxas noted in a recent interview that Bonhoeffer\u2019s story \u201chaunted me for years, not least because my mother is German and lived through the war in Germany, and because my grandfather was killed in the war at age 32, reluctantly fighting for a regime he hated.\u201d In writing the biography, he gained rare access to interviews that had been conducted with Bonhoeffer\u2019s relatives and friends during filmmaker Martin Doblmeier\u2019s production of his landmark 2003 documentary on the theologian\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

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Vaden-Goad observed the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer holds immediacy and relevance for a contemporary audience at a time when war, international conflict and human rights still confront Americans with difficult policy and moral choices.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBonhoeffer\u2019s life story will resonate with our students, our faculty and our community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be very inspirational.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWar, violence and humanity \u2014 these are themes we need to talk about,\u201d she added. \u201cWe know there are wars going on in many places, but it is not in front of us all the time. This lecture asks that we do some thinking about these issues, at both a personal level and at an academic level. It is important as a university that we invite these tougher topics to be discussed in a respectful setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bonhoeffer\u2019s leadership of Christian opposition to the Third Reich and willingness to defend human rights and religious freedom at grave personal risk provide an extraordinary model for combining a deep personal faith with public action in the cause of social justice \u2014 a theme that recurs frequently in Metaxas\u2019s writings. As Bonhoeffer remarked shortly before leaving Union Theological Seminary in New York in summer 1939 to return to his homeland, \u201cI must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The author said Bonhoeffer\u2019s life provides a reminder today that \u201cfaith in God, and obedience to God, are the only solution to true evil.\u201d For Bonhoeffer, he observed, \u201cone\u2019s life must be one\u2019s theology, and one\u2019s theology must be one\u2019s life. If you don\u2019t live the things you claim to believe, you don\u2019t really believe them at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metaxas\u2019s previous biography of Wilberforce \u2014 the British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries who led the successful campaign in Parliament over several decades that abolished slavery in the United Kingdom \u2014 also focused on his protagonist\u2019s uncommon determination and skill in putting his Christian faith into the fight against the most profound social injustice of his day. \u201cFar beyond abolition, Wilberforce and his friends had a monumental impact on the wider British culture and on the world beyond Britain, because they succeeded not only in ending the slave trade and slavery, but in changing the entire mindset of the culture,\u201d Metaxas wrote for the Web-based magazine Fermiproject.com. \u201cThe idea that one should love one\u2019s neighbor was brought into the cultural mainstream for the first time in history, and the world has never been the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vaden-Goad credited members of the area Greek community including Plato Demos, president of the Danbury chapter of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, for recognizing Metaxas and his work on the life of Bonhoeffer as an inspirational selection for this year\u2019s Macricostas Lecture.\u201cWe agreed that a talk about Bonhoeffer would be wonderful because of the different cultures he crossed during his own life,\u201d she said. \u201cParticularly now in these times, this lecture will be very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.<\/p>\n

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\n Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics
\n of New England\u2019s best small private universities.

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DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 Acclaimed author, essayist and cultural commentator Eric Metaxas will share lessons and insights drawn from his new biography of the 20th century German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer as he delivers the annual …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-649","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}