Circle of Hope: A Radical Mission; a Riveting Crisis; the Future of Faith

Circle of Hope is Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold's soaring, searing examination of what it means for a community to love, to grow and crucially, to disagree.

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

National Book Award Finalist

Over forty years, Circle of Hope grew from a small family gathering into an extraordinary Philadelphia church with four thriving congregations, dedicated to fighting for gender equality and an end to racial discrimination. In their pursuit of social justice, the church offered hope to believers of all kinds - from outcasts to addicts - in a radical mission to improve the world.

Then, in the wake of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, Circle of Hope was forced to confront its own mistakes, plunging the community into existential crisis.

Circle of Hope tells a propulsive, layered story of what we do to stay true to our beliefs. Building on years of deep reporting, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold offers an intimate portrait of pastors and church members in their desperate struggle to hold a community together, despite their dividing truths.

'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