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, September 21, 2025
A Masterpiece Hiding in Plain Sight: The Triple Portal Entrance to St. Bart’s Church
Carole Bailey French, President of St. Bartholomew’s Conservancy, discusses the majestic Triple Portal entrance to St. Bart's and efforts currently underway to preserve it for future generations
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
September 28 The Reverend Dr. Duncan Dormor, General Secretary, United Society Partners in the Gospel
October 5 The Reverend Ryan Kuratko, PhD, Chaplain to Canterbury Uptown, and the Reverend Megan Sanders, Chaplain to Canterbury Downtown, The Episcopal Diocese of New York
October 12 Dante Tipiani, Senior Navigator & Community Builder, CaringKind
October 19 The Reverend Frederick A. Davie, Senior Executive Vice President for Public Theology and Civic Engagement, Union Theological Seminary
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
Attorney Mary Rothwell Davis, who oversees the larger Diocese’s work on immigration and refugees, assesses the current federal approach to immigration and shares thoughts on what we, as people of faith, can do.
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...