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, March 22, 2026
Everything You Wanted to Know About Passover (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Rabbi Sarah Berman of Central Synagogue explores the rituals of Passover and its significance in Jewish tradition.
Upcoming at The Forum
Sunday, MARCH 29, 2026
Palm Sunday Fête for All Ages In lieu of the Forum, come to the Great Hall for a special Palm Sunday Fête for All Ages featuring traditional palm cross making, hot cross buns, coffee, tea. Also at 12:15. The Forum will return after Easter Sunday.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
Psychologist Peter Coleman, a professor at Columbia, discusses the deep divides in our national life--and how we can transcend them. Read more about Professor Coleman and his research at https://www.thewayoutofpolarization.com/.
The Right Reverend Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 2006 to 2015, ponders the future of our planet and the role we can play in taking better care of it. Bishop Jefferts Schori is the author of several...
Elaine Pagels, a leading scholar of early Christianity and the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University, outlines the most enigmatic book in the New Testament and the lasting impact it made on politics and...
Heidi Allen, Associate Professor at Columbia School of Social Work, offers insight on how future healthcare policy could better protect the most vulnerable.
Michael Duffy, who as President of the Great Oaks Foundation oversees five public charter schools, explores how an emphasis on tutoring could transform our approach to education.
Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, chronicles the historical development of Christian ideas about the afterlife.
Fred Cerullo, Executive Director of the Grand Central Partnership and a Commissioner on the New York City Planning Commission discusses the future of New York City in the wake of COVID-19.
The Reverend Keith Anderson, author of The Digital Cathedral: Networked Ministry in a Wireless World, talks with Professor J. Patrick Hornbeck II of Fordham University about the future of the Church beyond 2020.
Indigenous People, The Doctrine of Discovery, and the Episcopal Church: On the eve of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, The Episcopal Church’s Indigenous Missioner, The Reverend Dr. Bradley Hauff, examines the Church’s problematic...
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.