University of Minnesota Logo placeholder
SKU
9760374601685
ISBN
9780374601683

Circle Of Hope: A Reckoning With Love, Power, & Justice In An American Church

$30.00 $21.00
Author
Griswold, Eliza

A Pulitzer Prize winnerā€™s intimate portrait of a church, its radical mission, and its riveting crisis.
ā€œThe revolution I wanted to be part of was in the church.ā€

Americans have been leaving their churches. Some drift away. Some stay home. Many search for more authentic ways to find and follow Jesus.

Circle of Hope tells of one such ā€œradical outpost of Jesus followersā€ in Philadelphia, 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, Circle grows for forty years, plants four congregations, and then finds itself in crisis.

Immersive, explosive, and tender-hearted, Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold offers an American allegory full of urgent questions: 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 ā€œthe least of theseā€ welcome?

Building on years of deep reporting, Griswold chronicles Circleā€™s journey as its devoted pastors and members strive toward change that might help the church survive. Through generational rifts, an increasingly politicized religious landscape, a pandemic that prevents gathering in 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 a community to love, to grow, and to disagree.

Binding*
Delivery*
8336