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 about Ryan 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.