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.
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Sunday, May 19 at 10 am: Hearing the Spirit's Call
Four members of the St. Bart's community exploring a possible call to ordained ministry (Kate DiTullio, Nathan Peace, Bailey Regan, and Teagan Sage) reflect on how they hear the Spirit's call.
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Upcoming Forums
May 26: When is War Just?
As wars rage on in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and throughout the world, Walter Dorn, Professor of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Military College in Toronto, offers some Memorial Day reflections on the ethics of war.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
Monique Rainford, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and author of Pregnant While Black, commemorates Mother’s Day by reflecting on how we as a society can better protect...
David Clough, Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester (UK) and the co-founder of https://www.becreaturekind.org/, outlines the responsibilities Christians have to protect and care for non-human animals.
Cole Arthur Riley, the creator of the Instagram account @blackliturgies, shares some of her beautiful prayers and speaks to the importance of amplifying Black voices in the liturgical life of the Church. https://www.instagram.com/blackliturgies/
After an initial overview of COVID-19 in June, Dr. Jamie Ferrara and Dr. Jim Marion return to discuss progress being made towards a vaccine. Dr. Ferrara and Dr. Marion suggest reviewing this article in Foreign Policy for background on the topic.
On Labor Day weekend, the Reverend John Wirenius, Deacon of St. Bart's and the Chair of the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, discusses the importance of securing labor rights as part of our effort to build a just society. Read a...
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of 19th amendment, Lee Ann Banaszak, Professor of Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, reflects on the past, present...
Lauren Smith, a PhD student in Religious Studies at Brown University, examines the close connections between the experience of reading great literature and the experience of conversion. Please email your questions for our speaker to the...
Robert P. Jones (CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute) reflects on his new book, which outlines the long and unfortunate connection between white supremacy and Christianity in America.
Malik Saafir, GreenFaith’s Arkansas Organizer and a long-time racial justice activist, will speak about these interconnections and how faith communities can make a difference. Please email your questions for our speaker to the Reverend...
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...