Each week, guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines join the Reverend Peter Thompson and other St. Bart's clergy for deep and insightful conversations about topics that matter to our lives as responsible citizens and people of faith. Speakers in recent years have included winners of the Tony Award, the Emmy Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize, professors from prominent universities like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and journalists from New York, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
Sunday, June 15, 2025 Black, Queer, & Untold
Acclaimed designer and artist Jon Key, author of Black, Queer, & Untold, brings to light the lives and legacies of Black and Queer creatives from the 1800s to the present.
Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Zack Nyein at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
June 22Born Again Queer: Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity
William Stell, Faculty Fellow at New York University and author of the upcoming book Born Again Queer, uncovers the hidden history of gay evangelicals and the opposition they faced within the evangelical movement.
June 29 The Reverend Mihee Kim-Kort, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, Maryland, on queerness and faith
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
The Reverend Canon Leyla King, a Palestinian American priest and the author of the forthcoming memoir Daughters of Palestine, provides a way in to the conversation about the current realities in the Holy Land through the lens of her...
Author and scholar Diana Butler Bass discusses her new book Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence about the many dimensions of Jesus.
Duke professor Norman Wirzba examines the relationship between what we eat and what we believe. Norman Wirzba is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke...
Lauren R. Kerby, who has studied white evangelicals’ relationship with Washington, DC, sheds light on the capitol insurrection we witnessed in January. Dr. Kerby is a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and the author of Saving History: How...
The Reverend Peter Thompson and Dr. Paolo Bordignon talk with Dr. David Hurd, one of the leading musicians in the Episcopal Church, about his career and compositional work. Dr. Hurd is Organist and Music Director at The Church of St. Mary the...
Renowned historian Stephanie Coontz (https://www.stephaniecoontz.com/) answers questions on how romantic partnerships and family structures continue to evolve. Stephanie Coontz is Professor of History and Family Studies at The Evergreen...
Two of America's leading choral conductors, Dr. Anton Armstrong and Dr. André Thomas, explore the African-American spiritual, a much-beloved art form that emerged from the pain and horror of slavery. Dr. Armstrong...
After a highly contentious 2020 election season, Perry Grossman, Senior Staff Attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, speaks about the importance of voting rights and the continuing fight to secure them for all Americans.
A panel of medical experts discusses the current vaccine rollout and the ethical issues it raises. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Catherine Belford Budd (https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine...) as moderator and to welcome back Dr. Jamie...
Dan Pinello, Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, explores the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause since World War II, and how constitutional history and language have impeded the full realization of...
BIshop Dean Wolfe introduces Jesse Ramos, the new Interim Executive Director of Crossroads Community Services, and together they discuss the important work Crossroads does to combat hunger and homelessness in New York City.