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...
Percy Preston, Jr., Archivist and Honorary Warden, marks the centenary of a momentous and highly controversial sermon preached at St. Bart’s that was featured on the front page of The New York Times. (For the original Times article, click...
The Right Reverend A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop of New Hampshire, reflects on the current mental health crisis and how the Christian faith can provide support to those who are struggling.
Author Fiona Davis delves into the history of the Radio City Rockettes and their famous Christmas Spectacular, now in its ninetieth year, as she introduces her novel The Spectacular.
On Thanksgiving Day weekend, author Kristi Nelson helps us explore how we can better appreciate each moment as a precious gift.
On Commitment Sunday, pledge campaign co-chairs Keith Reinhard and Mariel Glover talk with the Reverend Peter D. Thompson about the joy they each find at St. Bart’s and in helping others contribute to its mission.
The Reverend Peter Thompson discusses his three month sabbatical and his return to St. Bart’s.
The Right Reverend Dean Wolfe and his wife Ellen reflect on his thirty years of service as a priest and bishop.
Perspective and conversation with the Reverend Molly O’Neil Frank, palliative care chaplain from Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Stephen Douglas, from the Komanski Children’s hospital and Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Children...
Graham Bullock, Associate Professor of Political Science at Davidson College and Faculty Director of Davidson’s Deliberative Citizenship Institute, proposes a more constructive approach to dialogue about important social and political issues.
Charles Scribner III, author, art historian, and longtime member of the St. Bart’s community, ponders the many ways in which art and music can lead us to the sacred.
