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, January 25, 2026
The Wonder Church of My Research Laboratory (Great Hall)
Dr. James Ferrara, Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and longtime member of St. Bart’s, speaks about his vocation as a physician-scientist.
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
February 1: Edward Button of the acclaimed British vocal group The King's Singers reflects on his career in music. 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.
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...
The Reverend Dr. Timothy Peoples, Senior Pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, explores how worshipers’ perceptions of those who preach to them impacts the messages they hear.
What did it mean for early Christians to center their communal gatherings on "the breaking of the bread"? The Very Reverend Andrew McGowan, Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, draws on recent archaeological and other evidence...
The Reverend Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York, speaks about the work ICNY is doing, particularly relating to the migrant crisis.
Rabbi Sarah Berman, Director of Adult Education at Central Synagogue and Dr. Daisy Khan, Executive Director of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality speak about their faith traditions and what their traditions teach...
Percy Preston, Jr., Archivist and Honorary Warden, marks the centenary of a momentous and highly controversial sermon preached at St. Bart’s that was featured on the front page of The New York Times. (For the original Times article, click...
The Right Reverend A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop of New Hampshire, reflects on the current mental health crisis and how the Christian faith can provide support to those who are struggling.
Author Fiona Davis delves into the history of the Radio City Rockettes and their famous Christmas Spectacular, now in its ninetieth year, as she introduces her novel The Spectacular.
On Commitment Sunday, pledge campaign co-chairs Keith Reinhard and Mariel Glover talk with the Reverend Peter D. Thompson about the joy they each find at St. Bart’s and in helping others contribute to its mission.