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.
Sunday, June 1, 2025 The Renewal of the Church for the Healing of the World: Why the Story of Church Decline is Wrong
June 8 The Reverend Canon Leyla King, Canon for Mission in Small Congregations, Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, on war in Gaza
June 15 Jon Key, author of Black, Queer & Untold, on art, sexuality, and race
June 22 Jacqueline Goldsby, Professor of African-American Studies and English at Yale University, and Charles Cuykendall Carter, Assistant Curator at New York Public Library, on James Baldwin
June 29 The Reverend Mihee Kim-Kort, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, Maryland, on queerness and faith
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
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...
"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.
Finding God’s Hope in the Midst of Fear, Loss, and COVID-19, with Jan Holton, Associate Professor of the Practice of Pastoral Theology and Care, Duke University. Click the filmstrip image to view the recorded Forum.
“Anxiety and Isolation in the Age of COVID-19: What can we do?” Mary Ragan, PhD, LCSW, Executive Director of the Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute, discusses how to navigate daily life in this strange, new time in which we find...