We purchased our tickets to hear Eric Metaxas speak on the faith of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Woodside Bible Church in Troy in February. I'm really looking forward to hearing his speech, but now I guess I'll have to hurry up and finish reading Eric's book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy before February 19th.Below is an excerpt from a recent blog post by Eric Metaxas My Take: No pressure, Mr. President...
A year ago I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, an event attended by the president, first lady, vice president, and 3,500 other dignitaries. No one was more shocked at the invitation than I. Previous speakers include Mother Teresa, Tony Blair and Bono. No pressure. By the way, I disagree with the president in some important ways. But as a Christian, God commands me to love those with whom I disagree, to treat them with civility and respect, as creatures made in God's image. That's a command, not a request or a suggestion. Again, no pressure. In my speech I spoke about my heroes, William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Wilberforce's faith led him to fight for the Africans being enslaved by the British; Bonhoeffer's faith led him to fight for the Jews being persecuted by the Nazis. I used them as examples of people who passionately lived out their faith by standing up for their fellow human beings when most around them merely gave it lip service.Click here to listen to an interview of Eric Metaxas about his speech at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast.
Here's the YouTube video of his speech at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast.
David, it's too bad that Metaxas completely misreads Bonhoeffer. Those of us who have spent years reading Bonhoeffer and the best bios don't recognize this version. He's a figment of Metaxas' imagination.
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