Eric Metaxas Goes Back on the Warpath Against Bonhoeffer's Relatives

Apology? What apology?

Apparently, Eric Metaxas has changed his mind again about the relatives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Just over two weeks after Metaxas apologized for saying that Bonhoeffer’s descendants were Jew-haters and pro-Hamas, he did it again. This time in an interview with Benny Johnson at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference sometime between December 19-22. I reported his apology on December 4.

Below is a brief fair use excerpt of his Socrates in the City interview with Johnson where Metaxas again calls Bonhoeffer’s relatives pro-Hamas. The new wrinkle in this interview is that he agrees with Benny Johnson who implies the relatives take the pro-Hitler perspective. Watch:

Here is the part of the interview where they discussed Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s relatives and scholars who study him.

Metaxas: I can tie this back to Bonhoeffer. Are you ready for this? Please. Okay, no, this is not a joke. This sounds like a joke because when you talk about unhinged lunatic liberals, right, really unhinged. We were talking before we got on the air about the Bonhoeffer story and I was telling you that like unhinged, liberal lunatics attacked me, my Bonhoeffer book, and the Bonhoeffer movie. Now the Bonhoeffer movie is made by somebody who's politically liberal. He made a great movie, but he's not pro-Trump or anything, but they managed to mush it all together, okay, and basically say, Eric Metaxas, Christian nationalist, wanting to incite violence, Bonhoeffer, you know, killed Hitler, so Metaxas has hijacked the agenda to incite political violence against Joe Biden. I mean, absolute lunacy.

And in the mix, they were particularly triggered because Project 2025 mentions Bonhoeffer, right? This is the genius of Kevin Roberts and heritage that they cite Bonhoeffer when they're talking about the concept of an open border and how that's cheap grace, right? Like, yeah, come on in. We love you. Come on in. That's, that's, you know, that's the definition of foolishness, but also they in project 25, they mentioned cheap grace and they mentioned Bonhoeffer. This triggered the liberal Bonhoeffer scholars, the liberal pro-Hamas, Bonhoeffer family members, whoever it is, it triggered them so that they actually mentioned Project 2025 in their screed against me, the Bonhoeffer film, Donald Trump, and my book. (emphasis added)

Johnson: So the attack vector there, is that they're pro-Hitler? Is that the attack vector of the left? Is this where we've come?

Metaxas: Well, that would be the logical extension of it, but they're not logical, right?

The conversation continues with Metaxas explaining his differences with Bonhoeffer scholars who are all liberals in his book. To hear him tell it, he alone rescued Bonhoeffer from their clutches. It really is an impressive display of hubris.

I am rarely surprised by these reversals but I thought it might take longer to show itself.

I recently asked the representatives of the Bonhoeffer family if they are still considering legal action against Metaxas. They said they were still considering it. I suspect this performance will add data to their deliberations.

To read the prior articles in this saga, see the links below:

In October 2024, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s relatives spoke out against Metaxas’ portrayal of their ancestor. In November, there was some confusion about the relationship between Metaxas and the new Bonhoeffer movie. In a series of interviews with me, Director Todd Komarnicki clarified the situation and made it clear that the film was not a Christian nationalist effort.

In November on the Glenn Beck Show, Eric Metaxas struck back at Bonhoeffer’s family calling them Jew-haters and pro-Hamas lunatics. The next day I reported that Bonhoeffer’s relatives were considering legal action against Metaxas for defamation. After doubling down on his name-calling, Metaxas reversed himself and issued an apology on December 4. Now we learn that just days later Metaxas continued to refer to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s family as “pro-Hamas” and agreed with the implication that their criticism of him placed them on a pro-Hitler “vector.”