Tangled and murky, despite glimmers of a hopeful, alternative faith.
A chronicle of a progressive evangelical church that fell into infighting and eventual decline.
In a landscape that emphasizes rightward-leaning evangelicalism, New Yorker writer Griswold offers the counterpoint of a “radical evangelical” church. Founded by Gwen and Rod White in 1996, Circle of Hope had grown to four congregations in greater Philadelphia by the time the author began following them in 2019. The pastors helped their members overcome painful past religious experiences and performed acts of companionship and service in their gentrifying neighborhoods. Like countless other organizations, Circle of Hope lurched toward a crisis of identity in 2020, confronting both the pandemic and the nationwide reckoning with racist systems of oppression. As each pastor attempted to lead, their shared mission and collaboration began to fray, leaving the church at a precipice. A crucial conversation about the tension among personal devotion, social activism, and institutional loyalty sits at the center of Griswold’s text, especially meaningful in the current political environment. The author’s own history makes her an especially powerful voice, and she offers an engaging mix of sympathy and reserved skepticism. However, flaws in narrative structure and spotty details muddle the chronology and significance of each interaction between the pastors and other church leaders. Griswold devotes much attention to shifting alliances and personal slights whose impacts seem out of proportion to their presentation, leaving more profound and pertinent themes—racism, sexism, the blind spots of founders and leaders, and the relationship between political and religious identity—simmering under the surface. 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.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780374601683
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
