What makes Griswold’s book so valuable is the way in which every combatant in the church’s internal culture war is treated with humanity and empathy ... It’s very much worth reading Griswold’s book, examining our own hearts and asking ourselves a vital question: Are our differences so great that they justify destroying relationships or institutions that are truly good?
The real gift of the book is how Griswold is able to construct a taut narrative of the missteps and blowups among the four pastors, deftly tease out the modern dilemmas they face, and create a truly moving character study of the pastors themselves, along with Rod and Gwen and some of the church’s other members ... It’s nearly miraculous how Griswold manages to present everybody involved as neither villains nor heroes and heroines. Circle of Hope is a pleasure to read, despite the pain it often witnesses.
Her exhaustive reporting makes for a compassionate narrative that has something like the effect of an ambulance ride-along: propulsive and immersive, but at times overwhelming. This reader craved an occasional counterbalance to the narrative’s granularity and near-constant action, a broader perspective on the internecine battles and what they mean to Griswold’s overarching concerns about religion and politics in American life ... Griswold’s subjects speak for themselves, as journalistic ethics justly dictate, but I was always aware that I was seeing the action through the eyes of an interpretive and selective observer laboring to present these complexities as though she were not there ... These considerations aside, this is an ardent, distinctive work, generous and character-driven, with concerns that speak directly to the current moment and beyond.
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.
Griswold manages to remain both sympathetic and objective, as she reveals how difficult it can be for well-intentioned people to actualize their exalted ideals. Circle of Hope is the intimate story of one small church, but it carries within it profoundly relevant lessons for all people of faith.
The author titles each chapter with the name of one of the pastors she profiles, but she presents an array of perspectives in each section, jumping back and forth among people and events along a relatively condensed timeline. This lack of clarity diminishes the impact of Griswold’s well-intentioned investigation. Tangled and murky, despite glimmers of a hopeful, alternative faith.
