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.
Priest and author The Rev. Barbara Crafton joined us to discuss her new book, The Also Life. "Most people wonder what the afterlife is like," Crafton writes. "I don't like that term, 'afterlife.' I prefer my own word, 'alsolife.' I’m...
Join us in the Great Hall where our friend Imam Faiyaz Jaffer, member of the Interfaith Center of NYU, will share his hopes and values in the midst of this time of ferment in our city and nation.
Join us in the Great Hall as we welcome the Rev. Dr. Clair McPherson, distinguished Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary here in Manhattan. In lively fashion, he will plumb the deep wisdom of our ancient Christian...
Deirdre Cornell shares a theological and pastoral presentation featuring the work of her book Jesus was a Migrant, published by Orbis.
David Lowe, Director of the Beaux Arts Society of New York and longtime member of the Episcopal Church, gives a presentation on the spectacular life and works of the architect of our church, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue.
St. Bart's and the Arts, Series Conclusion: The Russians are Coming!Interim Rector Bob Dannals will explore two primary and influential Russian writers, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, with a particular focus on their theology, religious...
The Art of St. Bart’s Chapel IIThe Rev. Matthew Moretz led a lively exploration of the hidden symbolism and spiritual meaning of the stained glass and carvings of our stunning chapel.
Modeling the Faith: Susan Howatch’s Starbridge Novels as Theology in ActionPopular novelist Susan Howatch’s six linked novels set in the fictional cathedral City of Starbridge dramatically depict clerical life from 1937 through the...
Patrick Bergquist, Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries, walked us through the history and uses of icons. Icons have aided in the prayer life of the church for hundreds of years. In the Forum we took a look at ways that this...
Parishioner Retta Blaney, author of Working on the Inside: the Spiritual Life through the Eyes of Actors, discussed the ten elements of the universal spiritual life and their importance to practitioners of the arts and the Judeo-Christian...
