Circle of Hope
A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church
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Circle of Hope
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Narrated by:
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Jennifer Pickens
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Written by:
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Eliza Griswold
About this listen
Long-listed, Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2024
Finalist, National Book Awards, 2024
A Pulitzer Prize winner’s intimate portrait of a church, its radical mission, and its riveting crisis.
"Jennifer Pickens adopts an even-keeled reportorial cadence and timbre well suited to Griswold's immersion journalism, which recounts the rise and fall of Circle of Hope."—AudioFile
“The revolution I wanted to be part of was in the church.”
Americans have been leaving their churches. Some drift away. Some stay home. And some have been searching for—and finding—more authentic ways to find and follow Jesus.
This is the story of one such “radical outpost of Jesus followers” dedicated to service, the Sermon on the Mount, and working toward justice for all in this life, not just salvation for some in the next. Part of a little-known yet influential movement at the edge of American evangelicalism, Philadelphia’s Circle of Hope grew for forty years, planted four congregations, and then found itself in crisis.
The story that follows is an American allegory full of questions with urgent relevance for so many of us, not just the faithful: How do we commit to one another and our better selves in a fracturing world? Where does power live? Can it be shared? How do we make “the least of these” welcome?
Building on years of deep reporting, the Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold has crafted an intimate, immersive, tenderhearted portrait of a community, as well as a riveting chronicle of its transformation, bearing witness to the ways a deeply committed membership and their team of devoted pastors are striving toward change that might help their church survive. Through generational rifts, an increasingly politicized religious landscape, a pandemic that prevented gathering to worship, and a rise in foundation-shaking activism, Circle of Hope tells a propulsive, layered story of what we do to stay true to our beliefs. It is a soaring, searing examination of what it means for us to love, to grow, and to disagree.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
©2024 Eliza Griswold (P)2024 Macmillan AudioWhat the critics say
“Riveting . . . A fascinating inquest into the death of a church that doubles as a compassionate case study on the insufficiency of good intentions.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“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
“Circle of Hope is an act of courage, vulnerability, and creativity—all things that make Eliza Griswold’s seasoned voice once again strike with strength.”—Danté Stewart, author of Shoutin’ in the Fire