Circle of Hope: A radical mission; a riveting crisis; the future of faith

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The Pulitzer Prize winner's extraordinary portrait of one religious community - and what it means for us all

Although most evangelicals have their sights firmly set on salvation in the afterlife, one extraordinary church in Philadelphia is designed to fight for progress and dedicated to social justice in this life. Over forty years, Circle of Hope grew from one family to four congregations battling for equality among the sexes, an end to racial discrimination, and offering hope to believers of all kinds - from outcasts to addicts - in its radical mission to improve the world.

Then, rocked by many of the same issues facing society at large, from MeToo to Black Lives Matter, Circle of Hope is forced to confront its own mistakes, plunging the community into existential crisis.

Building on years of deep reporting, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold paints an intimate portrait of pastors and church members' desperate wrestling to find a way to remain together despite their dividing truths.

Through generational rifts, an increasingly politicised religious landscape, a pandemic 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 a community to love, to grow, and crucially to disagree.

Author Bio

Eliza Griswold has written and translated five books of nonfiction and poetry, and was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America, which was also a New York Times Notable Book and Critics' Pick. Griswold has held fellowships at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the New America Foundation, among others. She has been awarded various prizes, including the J. Anthony Lukas Prize, a PEN Translation Prize, and the Rome Prize for her poetry. Currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University, she has written for The New Yorker since 2003. She's currently living in London with her husband and son.