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.
Dr. Clay Williams, a St. Bart’s parishioner who completed his dissertation on artificial intelligence, contemplates the impact that AI is making on our efforts to understand ourselves.
The Reverend Dr. Ayla Lepine, Associate Rector of St. James’s Piccadilly, introduces her new book which lies at the intersection of feminism, art, and theology.
September 27 Christian Nationalism in the UK
The Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector of St. James’s Piccadilly, looks at Christian nationalism within the United Kingdom, contending that it represents both a political problem and a theological one.
October 4 Flood
Filmmaker Katy Scoggin tells a very personal story about dialogue across difference ahead of a screening of her new documentary.
October 11 Eleanor Roosevelt’s Nightly Prayer: The Religious Life of the First Lady of the World
Author Donn Mitchell examines the ways in which Eleanor Roosevelt’s faith informed her work and her life.
October 25 Caleb Maglaya Galaraga, journalist, The Living Church
November 1 Paul, Democracy, and the Corinthians
Larry Welborn, Professor Emeritus at Fordham University, highlights democratic impulses within the early Church and the New Testament.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
The Priest as Politician: Social Engagement as a ClergypersonOver a nearly three decade long career, our Rector, Bishop Dean Wolfe, has spoken out on a number of different political issues. How has he thought about tricky political dilemmas and...
Religion is Always in the Room: Liz Kineke on Religion, Politics, and UnderstandingLiz Kineke served for over fourteen years as the producer of CBS’ award-winning Religion and Culture series. As she revisits her transition to religion...
A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights HistoryWe think we know the story of the Civil Rights Movement: the United States was segregated; Martin Luther King, Jr. fixed it through love and nonviolence; he...
The Not-So-Separation of Church and State: Emma Green on the Intersection of Religion and PoliticsEmma Green, a staff writer at the Atlantic and one of the best journalists working at the intersection of these two hot-button issues, reflects with...
Fresh, clean water in sufficient quantity for daily living is transforming in many parts of the world. Nowhere is this more true than in Africa. Eleven years ago the Parish of St. Bartholomew’s Church initiated the funding for a water...
Once in Royal David’s City: The History of Christmas Lessons and CarolsJust before St. Bart’s first-ever service of Christmas lessons and carols, Associate Rector for Formation and Liturgy Peter Thompson takes a look at how the...
The Crisis of Human Trafficking, Part 2 of 2: Why All Our Children are Vulnerable and How to Protect Them Each year thousands of children, average age of 11-15, are trafficked right here from our own communities in and around NYC. A growing...
What Does the Lord Require?: Bishop Gene Robinson on Faith and JusticeIn 2003, the Right Reverend Gene Robinson made headlines when he was elected the Bishop of New Hampshire, making him the first openly gay person to be elected a bishop in...
The Lessons of the Wilderness (Part 5—The Struggle Continues: Revelation 12)At the present moment, many Christians feel that they are “in the wilderness”: church membership is declining and talk about Christianity is vanishing...
