Two writers explore stories of evangelicals reckoning with race in their congregations.

Not all evangelical churches fit the stereotypes. In their latest books, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eliza Griswold and the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, Hahrie Han, bear witness to two churches who break the mold. In Circle of Hope, Griswold chronicles the ravaging and ultimately destructive results to a group of progressive-leaning Philadelphia evangelicals who attempt a racial reckoning. In Undivided, Han follows four members of a conservative Midwest church whose lives are radically altered for the better by a six-week program designed to tackle racial injustice among their ranks.

Griswold and Han will discuss their books with journalist Andrea Elliott and examine how their stories shed light on the complexity of contemporary American evangelism.

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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.

Hahrie Han is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Political Science, the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute, and the director of the P3 research lab at Johns Hopkins University. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has published four previous books: Prisms of the People, How Organizations Develop Activists, Groundbreakers, and Moved to Action. Her most recent book was awarded the 2022 Michael Harrington Book Award from the American Political Science Association for “scholarship contributing to the struggle for a better world,” and she was also named a 2022 Social Innovation Thought Leader of the Year by the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic, among other national publications. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Andrea Elliott is a two-time Pulitzer-winning journalist who has documented the lives of poor Americans, immigrants, and others on the margins of power. She is an investigative reporter for The New York Times and the author of Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City, which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction and was chosen by President Barack Obama as a favorite book of the year. Elliott is also the recipient of a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, a George Polk Award, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and other honors. 

READ CIRCLE OF HOPE:

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READ UNDIVIDED:

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• E-Book app: SimplyE, available on iOS and Android


• Purchase: The Library Shop — proceeds benefit The New York Public Library

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. 

Livestream | Captions and a transcript will be provided. Media used over the course of the conversation will be accompanied by alt text and/or audio description. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

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Eliza Griswold © Seamus Murphy
Hahrie Han © Will Kirk
Andrea Elliott © Nina Subin