All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer

Why is it, in the midst of relative peace and prosperity, we are increasingly alienated, lonely, and depressed? Even before we lived through a global pandemic, we were (and are) living through a deadly loneliness epidemic.

In this conversation Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer join us to wrestle with tough questions such as how to think about reinvigorating relational and community ties that encourage the flourishing of both the individual and the body politic.

We discuss the antidotes to isolation in a time of pandemic and strive to find hope for connecting lonely people in a divided and polarized nation:

 Loneliness is the subjective feeling of being alone. You can feel alone in a crowded room. And so this is important that we highlight because what happens when you start feeling that way is that not far from there is this inability to find meaning in your life and daily actions. - Francie Broghammer

We hope this conversation on America’s epidemic of loneliness and the path towards meaningful connection inspires you to consider how you can further cultivate enduring friendships and engage with your community.

Our podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation with Ryan and Francie from April, 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Learn more aboutRyan Streeter and Francie Broghammer.

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

Transforming Charity, by Ryan Streeter

Religion and the Public Sphere in the 21st Century, by Ryan Streeter

The Soul of Civil Society, by Ryan Streeter

The Pursuit of Loneliness, by Philip Slater

The Lonely Crowd, by David Riesman

Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam

Arthur Brooks

George Orwell

Yuval Levin

Alexis de Tocqueville

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas

On Friendship, by Cicero

Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl

Augustine’s Confessions

The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day

Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil

Related Conversations:
Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Hope, Heartbreak, and Meaning with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer

To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society

Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.