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, August 24, 2025 Gendered Islamophobia: Deconstructing 30 Rights of Muslim Women
Dr. Daisy Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality (WISE), discusses how Muslim women’s lives can be improved by connecting them to beliefs that affirm human dignity and gender equality at the core of the Islamic faith.Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Meredith Ward at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
August 31 Conversation with Clergy: What Did You Do This Summer?
The Forum is on hiatus for Labor Day weekend. In its place, join the clergy for an in person conversation about summer vacations and the fall season ahead.
September 7 Forum with Former Rector Buddy Stallings
The Reverend Buddy Stallings reflects on the decade since he retired as Rector of St. Bart’s and the state of the world today.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
In an age of information overload and political polarization, how do we discern what truly serves the common good? CUNY Law professor and St. Bart’s parishioner Ally Coll explores the promises and pitfalls of both evidence-based and...
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.
Responding to COVID-19 Across the Anglican Communion
Robert Radtke, President & CEO of Episcopal Relief and Development, discusses the steps his organization is taking to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 within the United States and around...
Adding to Your Theological Toolbox: Resources for Living with the Realities of Suffering and GriefThe Reverend Molly James, PhD offers guidance on how to cope with the painful episodes that we experience in our lives. James is a theologian...
David Blight, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale, reflects on Frederick Douglass’ landmark Fourth...
Playwright Matthew Lopez talks about his award-winning Broadway play The Inheritance and how the struggles of the AIDS crisis remain relevant today.
Click the red filmstrip icon to view the Forum video
As we celebrate another Pride month, The Reverend Justin Crisp draws on queer voices and classic Christian theology to offer a new vision of the nature of sex itself. Crisp is Associate Rector and Theologian-in-Residence at St. Mark's Episcopal...
Who is my Neighbor during a Pandemic? A Medical PerspectivePart One: The Current Lockdown and How to Lift it SafelySt. Bart's doctors Jamie Ferrara, Jim Marion, and Peter Scardino discuss the current state of the COVID-19 crisis and what the next...
The Assumptions of Whiteness and the Challenge of DiscipleshipTo view the Forum video, click the red flimstrip iconAs protests continue across the country, Bryan Massingale, the James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham...
Christian Ethics for a Digital Society
We spend more time on our smartphones, computers, and tablets than ever before, yet we do not always consider our use of technology from an ethical perspective. Kate Ott, Associate Professor of Christian...