Circle of hope : a reckoning with love, power, and justice in an american church / Eliza Griswold.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year (So Far) and a Los Angeles Times Must-Read

From the Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold, Circle of Hope is an intimate portrait of a church, its radical mission, and its riveting crisis.

"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.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• A Note (3)
• Prologue (9)
• 1 Ben (15)
• 2 Julie (40)
• 3 Rachel (65)
• 4 Jonny (88)
• 5 Julie (119)
• 6 Ben (143)
• 7 Jonny (163)
• 8 Rachel (179)
• 9 Bethany (195)
• 10 Ben (210)
• 11 Julie (226)
• 12 Rachel (246)
• 13 Jonny (263)
• 14 Julie (281)
• 15 Rachel (300)
• 16 Ben (315)
• A Benediction (327)
• Methods and Sources (333)
• Acknowledgments (335)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Pulitzer winner Griswold (Amity and Prosperity) delivers a riveting chronicle of the fracturing of a progressive Christian church during a period of social and political turmoil. In 1996, "hippie church planters" Rod and Gwen White founded the Circle of Hope church in Philadelphia as an alternative to "hypocrisy, GOP politics, and rote Bible learning." By the 2010s, they'd expanded into four congregations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But fissures that developed after the Whites stepped back from day-to-day operations in the 2010s deepened in 2020 as the church's four pastors grappled with Covid lockdown policies; the disconnect between the church's antiracism efforts and its struggles to interrogate its own biases; and questions over whether social justice efforts should be linked to political activism. Focusing on each of the four pastors in turn, Griswold artfully teases out the challenges that eventually led to the church's closure at the end of 2023, including the gap between its utopian vision and its ability to enact it and growing tensions with the Whites, who wanted to keep the institution largely out of politics. It's a fascinating inquest into the death of a church that doubles as a compassionate case study on the insufficiency of good intentions. (Aug.)

Booklist Review

Sex-abuse scandals, financial malfeasance, and increasing politicization have driven many in the U.S. away from organized Christianity, leaving individuals to find their own ways of emulating the teachings of Jesus. In Philadelphia in 1996, former California Jesus freak Rod White created Circle of Hope, an alternative approach to worship based on Anabaptist principles. The group took off, amassing 700 followers and four thriving congregations. Circle of Hope weathered controversies regarding BIPOC and LGBTQ+ congregants and the role of women in the group, but things really started to unravel during the pandemic. Investigative reporter Griswold (Amity and Prosperity, 2018), daughter of the former Bishop of the American Episcopal Church, offers an insightful, balanced account of Circle of Hope's struggles and eventual demise. Alternating chapters profile four pastors, covering their religious backgrounds, evangelical and ministering approaches, and individual interpretations of Circle of Hope's basic tenets and guiding principles. The text suffers from repetition and scrambled chronologies and leaves many unanswered questions but effectively reveals the inner workings of a group of dedicated believers trying to spread Christianity.