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.
Simran Jeet Singh, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, talks about growing up as Sikh in South Texas and reflects on the lessons he continues to learn from the teachings of his tradition...
Amy-Jill Levine, prolific author and the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, places Jesus and Paul within their Jewish context and...
On the eve of the election of the next Bishop of New York, our Rector, Bishop Dean Wolfe, talks about why we have bishops and what they do.
David Silverman, Professor of History at George Washington University and author of This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth County, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, offers a true history of the holiday we celebrate...
On Veterans Day weekend, Harry Foster, an alum of the Warrior-Scholar Project, discusses the ways in which our society can better support those who have served our country in the military.
Artist Mel Ahlborn, Director of Illumination Studio, introduces the baptismal font she created for St. Bart’s and reflects on the meaning of baptism and the way in which art continues to enhance the life of the Church.
Claudio Lomnitz, Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University and author of Death and The Idea of Mexico, provides an overview of the beloved Mexican tradition.
The Reverend Dr. Randall Balmer, John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College, discusses his new book about the intimate–and often unexamined–connections between religion and sports.
The Reverend Dr. Robert Willis, the recently retired Dean of Canterbury Cathedral in England, looks back at over two decades of distinguished service. During his time in Canterbury, Dean Willis not only hosted an important Lambeth Conference...
Akash Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of journalism start-up New York Focus, reflects on the fight for criminal justice reform, the implementation of a new climate law, and other issues facing our city and our state.
