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.
Karuna Mantena, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, discusses Mahatma Gandhi's influence on the thinking of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the connection they both perceived between social change and nonviolence. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Peter Thompson at
January 26
Parishioner Clay Williams on the emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence
February 2
Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music Professor Melanie Ross on the connection between liturgy and everyday life
February 9
Author and academic Isaac Sharp on the changing landscape of American evangelicalism
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
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.
How did Jesus and the earliest Christians approach issues of economic justice? Miguel Escobar, Executive Director of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, provides an overview based on his new book.
At this key moment in the life of The Episcopal Church, St. Bart’s parishioner Mary Kate Wold, CEO & President of the Church Pension Group, shares basic facts about our denomination and the clergy who serve it.
The clergy of St. James’s Piccadilly, London reflect on their experiences of ministering to an urban metropolis.
