Circle of Hope

An Evening with Eliza Griswold and John Fea

 
 

Thursday, October 10th | 7:30 pm

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.

Building on years of deep reporting, Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold has crafted an intimate portrait of a church, its radical mission, and its riveting 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? 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. Griswold will be in conversation with Messiah University professor John Fea.

Event Details:

  • This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required, but we’d appreciate an RSVP over on Facebook!

  • All book festival events, unless otherwise noted, will take place on the Midtown Scholar Bookstore’s main stage.

  • Seating is general admission; first come, first served.

  • A public book signing will immediately follow the discussion. Purchasing an author’s new book from the Midtown Scholar Bookstore is required for entry to the signing line. (Additional copies of a book may also be signed if time permits).

About the Speakers:

Eliza Griswold is the author of six books of poetry and nonfiction, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Her book Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. She writes for The New Yorker, is the Ferris Professor and Director of the Program in Journalism at Princeton University, and lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.

John Fea (PhD, State University of New York at Stony Brook) is distinguished professor of American history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and executive editor of Current. He is the author of several books, including Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump and Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? He writes a popular daily blog, The Way of Improvement Leads Home.