A Story of Growth and Breaking Down in an American Church
Active for forty years, Circle of Hope was a web of four interconnected churches in the Philadelphia area. Committed to the causes of justice and service, Circle of Hope became a haven for Christians who were seeking something different from what traditional evangelicalism had to offer, or more ‘countercultural’ modes to follow Christ. Informed by her years of experience in journalism, Eliza Griswold recounts the moment that Circle of Hope approached a pivotal point of breakdown in its history. Met with a pandemic, internal strife, political division, and changing tides of activism, Circle of Hope was forced to reckon with its vulnerabilities as questions about its inner structures of power arose. Tender, respectful, and honest, Griswold’s book acts as a microcosmic view of the things that we love and the things that hurt us in the American Church.
Eliza Griswold is the Ferris Professor and Director of Princeton University’s Journalism program. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her 2019 book Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. Griswold is the author of six books and also writes for The New Yorker.
Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:
“A compassionate narrative . . . propulsive and immersive . . . An ardent, distinctive work, generous and character-driven, with concerns that speak directly to the current moment and beyond
-Ayana Mathis, The Washington Post
“Eliza Griswold is a dazzling reporter: ever observant, wise, sympathetic, and honest. And in this spellbinding book, she not only immerses herself in a radical religious community but also reveals its fracturing in real time, raising questions about the nature of faith and justice and what binds us as Americans.”
– David Grann, author of The Wager
“Set against the backdrop of race, sexuality, and belief, Circle of Hope is a deeply captivating and sometimes troubling dive into a world of faith and frustrations often hidden by the political, antagonistic, and triumphalist projections of American Evangelicalism.”
– Anthea Butler, author of White Evangelical Racism
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