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, April 27 The Clergy of St. James’s Piccadilly: Ministry Across the Atlantic
The clergy of St. James’s Piccadilly, our partner parish in London, talk with the clergy of St. Bart’s about their remarkable community and their link with St. Bart’s.
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
May 4Reading the Bible With Your Feet: The Place of Scripture in 21st Century Life
The Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector of St. James’s Piccadilly in London, reflects on the ongoing relevance of the Bible in modern times.
May 11 Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of The Undocumented Americans, on the immigrant experience
May 18 David Blankenhorn, co-founder of Braver Angels, on political polarization
May 25 The Reverend Canon Stephanie Spellers, Assisting Priest, on a non-religious generation and the future of faith
June 1 The Right Reverend Matthew F. Heyd, Bishop of New York on this moment of transition for St. Bart's
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.
Blessed Are You: The Ethics of the Sermon on the Mount
In the Gospel of Matthew, most of Jesus’ ethical teaching is concentrated in chapters 5 through 7, which compromise what is often called the “Sermon on the Mount.” The...
The Sacrifice of Isaac: Reading the Same Story Two WaysThe sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:1–19) is one of the most striking stories in all of Scripture and has inspired a great deal of theological and philosophical thinking, including Soren...
How can an ancient library of books speak to modern challenges and concerns? Is the Bible still relevant in a twenty-first century world? Join Associate Rector for Formation & Liturgy Peter Thompson for a viewing of a talk by Yale Divinity...
Ordained by Angels: The Life and Ministry of an AIDS ChaplainThe Reverend Canon Jerry Anderson was an openly gay Episcopal priest serving in Washington, DC when the AIDS crisis struck in the early 1980s. As his partner and countless friends died...
Beyond the Binary: Understanding Trans and Gender Nonconforming Identities There have been dramatic advances in LGBTQ+ equality over the past few decades, but not all LGBTQ+ people have experienced that progress to the same extent. Trans and...
Love and Resistance—Stonewall After 50 YearsThe 2019 World Pride celebration in New York City marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the demonstrations in Greenwich Village that paved the way for more recent advances in...
On the final day of the Wellspring installation at St. Bart’s, its creator, Sukey Bryan, discusses the origins of the water-focused work, her continued commitment to artistically exploring the natural world, and the role art can play in the...
St. Bart’s and the Rooftop of the Waldorf-Astoria: Leslie Day
Before it closed for renovations in March 2017, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel boasted an impressive rooftop garden that provided food for the hotel’s daily culinary offerings...
May 26—The Global Effects of Climate Change: A Perspective from Honduras Marcia Biggs, Special Correspondent, PBS NewsHour
In Honduras, warmer temperatures and reduced rainfall are already drastically altering the agricultural landscape...