When Truth Became Personal:
Eric Metaxas at Cornerstone University
With his signature bold honesty, humor, and enthusiastic faith, Eric Metaxas filled Cornerstone University’s chapel with laughter and the unwavering conviction to live courageously for Christ. He delivered a message deeply attuned to our cultural moment, pointing students toward Truth — not as an abstract idea. “It’s Jesus Christ — the One who gives meaning, purpose and clarity to life.”
Cornerstone student body president and President’s Fellow student, Elijah Pleune, welcomed and introduced Metaxas. A best-selling author, cultural commentator and broadcaster known for The Eric Metaxas Show podcast, he also serves as a Distinguished President’s Fellow at Cornerstone University and was a featured panelist during a previous Wisdom Conversations. Cornerstone is grateful he has highlighted the university’s Christ-centered mission on his national podcast — praising the university’s vision to form bold, Biblically grounded leaders.
His return this fall was characteristically full: he met with student President’s Fellows, addressed business and civic leaders at the Cornerstone Leadership Forum, and offered his personal testimony in the Community Chapel.
Metaxas opened with humor about how people often introduce him. “People mention Yale University or that I’m a New York Times best-selling author,” he said with chagrin about the current “dark” state of both institutions. He pointed out, “What people rarely mention is that I had the privilege of working for VeggieTales. I wrote the Hamlet Omelette parody in Lyle the Kindly Viking and I’m the narrator on the Esther video.” The room erupted in applause before Metaxas pivoted. “But we all know the heart of everything is our faith in Jesus. The whole point of life is to have a personal relationship with Him.”
The son of a German mother who survived Nazi Germany and a Greek father, he was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church. He admitted that faith for him was mostly cultural. “I was never anti-God,” he said. “But I never really understood — is this really true? When we say at Easter, ‘Christ is risen,’ do we mean it?”
He described drifting through Yale’s liberalism and secularism and eventually encountering Christ through a miraculous dream at 25. “In the dream,” he said, “I was ice-fishing on a frozen lake and pulled a fish out of the hole. As I held it in the sunlight, it became a golden fish — and God spoke to me through that image.”
Drawing on his Greek heritage, he explained that the ancient word for fish, ichthus, forms an acronym meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. “In that moment,” he told students, “I realized what God was saying to me: The goal of life is not to reach through the conscious mind to touch some vague divinity. It’s my Son — Jesus Christ, the Son of God, your Savior.”
The next day, Metaxas told a friend about the dream, saying, “It means I have accepted Jesus.” His life — and his purpose — had been transformed.
He also reminded students that Christianity is not blind faith. Reflecting on his own study of history and science, Metaxas said, “The evidence for the resurrection is astonishing … shocking, really. It’s not something you just have to take on faith.” He added that even modern science confirms what Scripture has always declared. “The evidence for God from science has become mind-blowing, game-changing,” he said. “There’s a God who created me, who loves me, who has a purpose for my life. That’s true. That’s not just happy Christian talk.”
Metaxas’ message was both intellectual and deeply personal: a reminder that the Christian faith is not sentimental optimism but grounded Truth. For him, for everyone, for Cornerstone University, the evidence of creation, the reality of miracles, and the Truth of the resurrection affirm a faith that engages both the mind and the heart. “Your life is sacred and special,” he told students. “You’re created in God’s image — and that changes everything.”
As the chapel concluded in prayer, the Cornerstone community gave thanks for God’s grace and the reminder that true wisdom, courage, and joy are found in Christ alone.
Books by Metaxas, including “Religionless Christianity,” “Miracles,” “Is Atheism Dead?” and “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,” were available following the service.
Cornerstone looks forward to welcoming Metaxas back to campus in early February 2026.
