Epidemic of Loneliness and the Covenants We Make and Break: Finding Hope at the Table

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” wrote Thoreau in his famous book Walden, which was published in 1854. But while we might assume that loneliness is as old as death, some are saying it is getting worse. Join our speaker as he addresses the audience on the topic that he wrote about it in a blog post of the same title. He will explore this trend in some depth and then offer a few suggestions for action that culminate at a table. 

Peter Schuurman (PhD U Waterloo, Religious Studies) is a former campus minister (Brock University) and now adjunct professor at Redeemer University and executive director of Global Scholars Canada. He wrote a book on Bruxy Cavey and The Meeting House entitled The Subversive Evangelical: The Ironic Charisma of an Irreligious Megachurch (McGill-Queens 2019). What happened after 2021 at TMH became part of his next book with Angela Reitsma Bick: Blessed are the Undone: Testimonies of the Quiet Deconstruction of Faith in Canada (2024). He lives in Guelph with his family and golden doodle “Blaze,” where he attends New Life Church.