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Circle of Hope: A National Book Award Finalist

"extraordinary" - Patrick Radden Keefe

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Circle of Hope: A National Book Award Finalist

By: Eliza Griswold
Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
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A National Book Award Finalist

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, NPR, The Minnesota Star Tribune, and Publishers Weekly

"Glows on every page . . . nearly miraculous." -The Boston Globe

"Marvelous." -The New York Times

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.


"Lyrical, probing, and deeply reported, this is an extraordinary account ." ― Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain

"Eliza Griswold is a dazzling reporter: ever observant, wise, sympathetic, and honest. And in this spellbinding book." ― David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager

"A sharply contemporary book, painfully honest, stubbornly hopeful." ― Archbishop Rowan Williams, author of Passions of the Soul

"That rarest of books: an examination of the sacred and spiritual realm captured with humor, humanity, and style."― Susan Orlean, author of On Animals©2024 Eliza Griswold Christianity Religious Studies Social justice
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Critic reviews

"Lyrical, probing, and deeply reported, this is an extraordinary account of the fraught interplay of faith, community, and values. Eliza Griswold has produced a multigenerational group portrait that is compassionate yet unblinking and will resonate with anyone who aspires to chart a righteous path through this messy, mixed-up world." (Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain)
"Marvelous."
"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."
"With patience, intelligence, and compassion, Eliza Griswold traces the history of a Christian community and its leadership as they struggle to remain faithful to a radical vision through times of immense stress. A sharply contemporary book, painfully honest, stubbornly hopeful."
"That rarest of books: an examination of the sacred and spiritual realm captured with humor, humanity, and style."
"Glows on every page . . . nearly miraculous."
"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."
"Griswold traces the tumult of the pandemic and the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement in one Philadelphia church, as four young pastors battle over what it means to devote one's life to others."
"Circle of Hope is a rare and astonishing trek into the fractured soul of America, as told through the deeply reported and beautifully rendered story of one church's crucible."
"As we see through Griswold's reporting, [Circle of Hope's] fracturing becomes a painful case study in the ways the events of the past four years have exposed the failings of our institutions, without pointing a way forward."
"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."
"This is a lucid, tough, sad, heartening, and ultimately very wise book. It will be a beacon and warning to anyone caught up in this country's social turbulence."
"A story of both truth and grace, Circle of Hope traces in devastating detail how justice and kindness give way to the pursuit of power. The result is a searing reflection on the state of American religion, and on the challenges of holding together against the forces pulling us apart."
"I devoured this book. It made me examine the cost of centering my own self-regard, the need to see oneself as a 'good person.' Eliza Griswold is a master of immersive journalism. I cannot recommend Circle of Hope enough."
All stars
Most relevant
I've been a fan of Eliza Griswold since the first book of hers that I met, a travelogue along the parallel in Africa where Muslim and Christian worlds overlapped. I fell rather in love with her writing and was delighted to see her again, and to learn she'd won a Pulizer prize in the years since, no doubt deserved. I had to think for less than two seconds before buying this book.

Circle of Hope is a piece of immersive journalism about four pastors who jointly led a multi -congregational church of the same name.

Eliza Griswold delves into this progressive evangelical outfit with a delicate, watchmaker's precision, helped both by the generosity of the pastors, and by the churches' incontinent, and honestly rather navel-gazing, habit of airing all its thoughts to the entire church on every type of social media. The result is a kind of MRI scan of the church's innards. It's beautiful and elegantly done. One wonders, despite all the care she took to write it, what damage it has done to the church: so easy to dismantle that which we love.

But seeing this finely composed scrutiny gives us all the chance to think our own thoughts about this sputtering candle of a church (as are all churches, of course). Anabaptists bash each other with pillows, and grace, but still get battered. At times the church seemed almost to veer towards a kind of cultural revolution over the Black Lives Matter movement: counter-revolutionaries were obliged to make lengthy confessions of their faults; people of colour who disagreed with the prevailing narrative were not given their due weight. The church's dogged progressivism weighed on it: everyone had therapists. They called in an outside expert to examine their attitudes (spoiler: much churning and then he collects his fees and resigns). I wonder if Jesus stopped being at the centre of the Circle of Hope at times and other good things took his place.

Lovely book, thoughtfully read with just a few slips. Keep writing, Eliza. But I (a white churchgoer in another country) found it sad and poignant because of the story it told.

Beautiful sad book

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