FISH OUT OF WATER

The acclaimed biographer turns to memoir.

Metaxas, whose works include bestselling books about Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, narrates the story of his own life up to 1988, when he was 25. That year, when his true conversion to Christianity occurred, serves as a significant demarcation point in his journey. In a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth—including discussions of elements of his early life on which he looks back with regret—in order to explain how his faith altered his trajectory. Like Augustine, Metaxas recounts his mostly secular intellectual development, which created a foundation for his later spiritual conversion and nourishment. Whereas Augustine stole pears from a tree because his friends were doing it, Metaxas ostracized another boy in his class because of a desire to fit in. “I think I would do almost anything to go back there now to try to undo what I did,” he writes, “to befriend him or show him some love or kindness.” While Augustine recounted how he lived with a concubine and had a child with her, Metaxas relates the story of a girlfriend’s abortion. Throughout, the author records his experiences in excruciating detail, creating a book that will be illuminating to his family, friends, and readers of his previous books but that will struggle to find a general reading audience. The most interesting sections involve the author’s Greek heritage, tales of a childhood spent in a Greek Orthodox church, and his on-and-off flirtations with faith. Some will be disappointed that the book ends at the most intriguing point—the author’s rather sudden conversion story, which would dramatically change the direction of his life and the purpose behind his work—but perhaps another volume is in the works.

An exhaustive cliffhanger for devoted Metaxas fans.