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...
Lynn Sanders and Matthew Moretz led a lively discussion about three likely nominees for Best Picture: Boyhood, Selma, and The Theory of Everything.
Nativity Improv: Lynn Sanders, Matthew Moretz, and the fearless parishioners of St. Bart’s.
Buddy’s guest was Todd Bouldin, active St. Bart’s parishioner, corporate trainer and organizational development consultant, who received his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Todd has a special passion for the Advent texts...
How do people of faith engage the difficult questions of wealth and income inequality? What are the roles of charity, and policies regarding labor, welfare, and taxes? Building on a previous forum on inequality Economists Teresa Ghilarducci...
Buddy’s guest was the Rev. Clayton Crawley, who leads most of St. Bart’s Wednesday 6 pm services. Clayton is an ordained Episcopal priest and Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Church Pension Group. Clayton...
Dr. Mary Sudman Donovan, historian, author, educator and pioneer of women’s history in the Episcopal Church was our Forum guest. At this 40th-year anniversary of women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church, Dr. Donovan discussed how...
Actor Phil Darius Wallace was Buddy’s guest. Opening in a new American play this month entitled Self Made Man: The Frederick Douglass Story, Darius has performed across the country starring as Martin Luther King, Richard Wright, and...
Frances Hesselbein, President and CEO of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, was Buddy’s guest. Frances, a relatively new member of St. Bart’s, served for many years as the CEO for Girl Scouts of America and is recognized as...
