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.
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
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.
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...
Cheryl Bridges Johns, the Robert E. Fisher Chair of Spiritual Renewal at Pentecostal Theological Seminary, reflects on the meaning of Pentecost, often called “the birthday of the Church.”
Staying Awake: The Gospel for Changemakers The Reverend Tyler Sit, a pastor and church planter in the United Methodist Church, offers a refreshing vision of the Christian faith that puts social justice at the center. Because of the Rev...
Resurrecting Wounds: Living in the Afterlife of Trauma Boston University professor Shelly Rambo examines recovery from trauma through the lens of Jesus’ resurrection. This session of The Forum will be based on Rambo’s 2017 book of...
The Social Dilemma: Confronting the Perils of Social Media Vickie Curtis, a screenwriter for the acclaimed Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, looks at the terrifying ways in which social media has impacted our lives.
Decolonizing Christianity The Reverend Dr. Miguel de la Torre, Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, explains why it is important to de-couple Christianity and whiteness. Professor de la...
The Reverend Canon Stephanie Spellers, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation, and a frequent guest of St. Bart’s, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic, a racial reckoning, and the immense transformations...
What can recent scientific thinking about space and time teach us about what we commonly call “the afterlife”? Popular writer, retreat leader, and Episcopal priest Barbara Cawthorne Crafton offers a timely meditation for the Second...
The Clergy of St. Bart’s reflect on what it means to say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” after a year of COVID-1
As we mark Palm Sunday, Yale faculty member Felicity Harley-McGowan looks at artistic depictions of Jesus’ crucifixion in early Christianity.
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.
