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.
The Reverend Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes, D.Min., and the Reverend Andrew Wilkes, Ph.D., Co-Pastors of Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn, lead a conversation on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s critique of the “triple evils” of poverty, racism, and militarism, drawing on their recent books Psalms for Black Lives and Plenty Good Room.
January 25: James L. Ferrara, M.D., Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
February 1: Edward Button, Countertenor, The King’s Singers
February 8: Annual Meeting of the Parish
February 15: Melanie Holcomb, Ph.D., Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Nancy Thebaut, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford
February 22: Michael Zuch, LCSW, Clinical Social Worker and Ph.D. student at Rutgers University School of Social Work
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
As Bishop Sarah Mullally prepares to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend Canon Chuck Robertson, Ph.D., Canon & Senior Advisor to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, reflects on the role Archbishops of Canterbury...
The clergy of St. Bart’s reflect on the parish’s response to COVID-19 and share plans for the coming year.
Cole Arthur Riley, the creator of the Instagram account @blackliturgies, shares some of her beautiful prayers and speaks to the importance of amplifying Black voices in the liturgical life of the Church. https://www.instagram.com/blackliturgies/
After an initial overview of COVID-19 in June, Dr. Jamie Ferrara and Dr. Jim Marion return to discuss progress being made towards a vaccine. Dr. Ferrara and Dr. Marion suggest reviewing this article in Foreign Policy for background on the topic.
On Labor Day weekend, the Reverend John Wirenius, Deacon of St. Bart's and the Chair of the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, discusses the importance of securing labor rights as part of our effort to build a just society. Read a...
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of 19th amendment, Lee Ann Banaszak, Professor of Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, reflects on the past, present...
Lauren Smith, a PhD student in Religious Studies at Brown University, examines the close connections between the experience of reading great literature and the experience of conversion. Please email your questions for our speaker to the...
Robert P. Jones (CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute) reflects on his new book, which outlines the long and unfortunate connection between white supremacy and Christianity in America.
Malik Saafir, GreenFaith’s Arkansas Organizer and a long-time racial justice activist, will speak about these interconnections and how faith communities can make a difference. Please email your questions for our speaker to the Reverend...
J. Chester Johnson discusses his latest book, Damaged Heritage, the account of his discovery of his beloved grandfather’s participation in the worst race massacre in our country’s history; his meeting of Sheila L. Walker, a descendant...
Filmmaker Julian Marshall reflects on the passionate protests that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the constructive steps we can take to move forward now.
