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.
Computer scientist and St. Bart’s parishioner Clay Williams offers insights into how Artificial Intelligence (AI) works and the challenges it presents around consciousness, morality, and spirituality. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Peter Thompson at
February 2
Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music Professor Melanie Ross on the connection between liturgy and everyday life
February 9
Author and academic Isaac Sharp on the changing landscape of American evangelicalism
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
Karuna Mantena, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, discusses Mahatma Gandhi's influence on the thinking of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the connection they both perceived between social change and...
Author Austen Hartke returns to St. Bart’s to explore stories of biblical characters who didn't fit the mold when it came to gender roles and expression and talk about how these stories can call us to welcome our gender-expansive siblings...
Anthony Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities at Rice University, reflects on the legacy of The Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray, a civil rights activist, lawyer, Episcopal priest, and trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ Community.
The Reverend Dr. Randall Balmer, John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College and author of Solemn Reverence: Separate of Church and State in American Life, returns to St. Bart’s to discuss his new book about the separation of...
The Right Reverend Carl Wright, Bishop Suffragan for Armed Services and Federal Ministries, The Episcopal Church's Bishop Suffragan for the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, contemplates the significance of Memorial Day and discusses his role...
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...
