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.
Aaron Scott, the Episcopal Church’s Staff Officer for Gender Justice, draws connections between escalating social and policy violence toward transgender and non-binary people and the ascendancy of White Christian Nationalism and discusses the critical role trans-affirming churches can play in the months and years to come.
Matthew LaBanca discusses his autobiographical play Communion about a Roman Catholic school teacher who is fired for marrying someone of the same gender. Communion is currently playing Off-Broadway at the cell theatre (338 W 23rd Street).
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
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.
The clergy of St. Bart’s reflect on the parish’s response to COVID-19 and share plans for the coming year.
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...
