Biographer Eric Metaxas will the featured speaker for the John A. Hamrick Lectureship at First Baptist Church, Charleston, at 5 p.m. on Jan. 15 and at 10 a.m. on Jan. 16.
MetaxasBoth lectures will center on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Question-and-answer sessions will follow. The free programs will be in the church’s sanctuary and are open to the public.
“As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside,” Metaxas writes. “One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a pastor and author.” Eric Metaxas implores readers to remember “a man determined to do the will of God radically, courageously and joyfully – even to the point of death.”
Metaxas is the author of two New York Times bestselling biographies, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” and “Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery,” which was the basis for a popular movie. “Bonhoeffer” was named best Christian book of the year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
The lectures celebrate the life and work of the late John A. Hamrick, longtime pastor of Charleston First Baptist Church and founding president of Baptist College of Charleston, now Charleston Southern University.
Music will be presented by David Templeton, minister of music and worship, and Beverly Bradley, organist. The author’s books will be available for purchase and signing.