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...
The Reverend Dr. Maurice Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers, explains how Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voice served as an asset to him in his ministry.
Tara Marlovits, Bailey Regan, and Veronica Shea talk about their new roles on the St. Bart's staff and share their hopes for the year ahead.
Scott Thumma, Director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University, looks at how the church has transformed in the COVID-19 period and contemplates its future.
Simran Jeet Singh, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, talks about growing up as Sikh in South Texas and reflects on the lessons he continues to learn from the teachings of his tradition...
Amy-Jill Levine, prolific author and the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, places Jesus and Paul within their Jewish context and...
On the eve of the election of the next Bishop of New York, our Rector, Bishop Dean Wolfe, talks about why we have bishops and what they do.
David Silverman, Professor of History at George Washington University and author of This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth County, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, offers a true history of the holiday we celebrate...
On Veterans Day weekend, Harry Foster, an alum of the Warrior-Scholar Project, discusses the ways in which our society can better support those who have served our country in the military.
Artist Mel Ahlborn, Director of Illumination Studio, introduces the baptismal font she created for St. Bart’s and reflects on the meaning of baptism and the way in which art continues to enhance the life of the Church.
Claudio Lomnitz, Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University and author of Death and The Idea of Mexico, provides an overview of the beloved Mexican tradition.
