Seth Kaplan's Answer to Our Collective Problem

As Seth Kaplan has worked in 35 countries around the world, one thing has made itself clear: healthy relationships are the key to community stability.

“When I go to any place, whether it’s a neighborhood or country,” says Kaplan on this episode of The Russell Moore Show, “the thing I’m most interested in finding out is how well people are treating each other on so many levels.”

In conversation with Moore, Kaplan—author of Fragile Neighborhoods, lecturer, and consultant—explains the reasons Americans feel vulnerable, alienated, and angry. He describes the opportunities people have to do something about those negative feelings and experiences by engaging in local activities that bond them to their neighbors.

Moore and Kaplan discuss the necessity of institutions, identify organizations that are strengthening relationships, and consider the importance of marriage. Their conversation covers how children are being socialized, the effects of social media and digital play, and how to build a local ecosystem. Kaplan also describes his family’s practice of Shabbat and encourages his Christian friends to prioritize Sabbath rest.

Tune in for an episode that gives concrete, creative advice for cultivating flourishing neighborhoods that resist the division of our times.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Institute for Integrated Transitions
• Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society One Zip Code at A Time by Seth D. Kaplan
• American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell
• Communio
• Jonathan Haidt

Do you have a question for Russell Moore? Send it to questions@russellmoore.com.

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“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today

Executive Producers: Erik Petrik, Russell Moore, and Mike Cosper

Host: Russell Moore

Producer: Ashley Hales

Associate Producers: Abby Perry and McKenzie Hill

Director of Operations for CT Media: Matt Stevens

Audio engineering by Dan Phelps

Video producer: Abby Egan

Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton

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