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...
As we celebrate another Pride month, The Reverend Justin Crisp draws on queer voices and classic Christian theology to offer a new vision of the nature of sex itself. Crisp is Associate Rector and Theologian-in-Residence at St. Mark's Episcopal...
Who is my Neighbor during a Pandemic? A Medical PerspectivePart One: The Current Lockdown and How to Lift it SafelySt. Bart's doctors Jamie Ferrara, Jim Marion, and Peter Scardino discuss the current state of the COVID-19 crisis and what the next...
The Assumptions of Whiteness and the Challenge of DiscipleshipTo view the Forum video, click the red flimstrip iconAs protests continue across the country, Bryan Massingale, the James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham...
Christian Ethics for a Digital Society We spend more time on our smartphones, computers, and tablets than ever before, yet we do not always consider our use of technology from an ethical perspective. Kate Ott, Associate Professor of Christian...
The Forum: Leading with Empathy: Living Together Well During Shelter-in-PlaceJulie Ross, Executive Director of Parenting Horizons, discusses how parents, children, and others who share the same space can navigate the constraints of the COVID-19...
As the COVID-19 crisis continues, The Reverend Curtis Hart, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Religion and Health, draws on his years of experience as Director of Pastoral Care at New York Presbyterian hospital and as a lecturer at Weill Cornell...
Yale professor Teresa Berger, already a leading expert on virtual worship before COVID-19, talks with the Reverend Peter Thompson about how technology and circumstance are together changing the ways in which we gather and pray. Teresa's latest...
A New Normal: Being the Church in the Present MomentThe Right Reverend Andrew M. L. Dietsche, Bishop of New York, shares his thoughts on how the Church is responding to the global pandemic of COVID-19 and how it will change forever as a...
"Even at the Grave We Make Our Song: The Resurrection and COVID-19," with our rector Bishop Dean Wolfe. Click the filmstrip image to view the video.
"Social Justice and COVID-19: Caring for All in a Time of Pandemic," with the Reverend Susan Anderson-Smith Click the filmstrip image to view the video.
