Biblical and Theological Studies Department
Education
Ph.D. Marquette University, 2002 (Religious Studies/Historical Theology)
M.A. Marquette University, 1998 (Theology)
M.A. Old Dominion University, 1996 (English Literature)
B.A. Oral Roberts University, 1995 (Theological and Historical Studies)
About Jeffrey Barbeau
There is small chance of Truth at the goal where there is not a childlike Humility at the Starting-post" (S. T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, Aph Sp Rel B, V).
The study of theology and history encourages each of us to humbly reconnect to the diverse and imaginative beauty of the Christian faith. At its best, a liberal arts education allows students to see the full range of ideas across the disciplines and, moving one step further, helps us to conceptualize the interrelated nature of all ideas. The Christian liberal arts curriculum opposes an atomizing isolation of disciplines and embraces the need for the holistic integration of knowledge.
My work as a teacher and researcher develops from this conceptual, interdisciplinary base. Over the years, I have had the privilege to teach courses in systematic theology, all eras of church history, philosophy, popular culture, and even English literature/composition. My research and writing complements this wide teaching background. While I was a Visiting Fellow of the University of Cambridge in 2002-2003, I had the opportunity to collaborate on and eventually develop the first collection of scholarly papers on the newly-published Opus Maximum of S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834). I recently published the first full analysis of Coleridge’s late commentaries on the Bible and theology of divine revelation. Currently, I am at work on several exciting new projects, including a global intellectual history of Wesleyan pneumatologies as well as a systematic study of the unpublished theological writings of Sara Coleridge (1802-1852).
I am an occasional golfer, an avid Green Bay Packer fan, and, above all, the proud father of four beautiful children—Elizabeth, Rebekah, Benjamin, and Samuel.
Courses Taught
- Advanced Systematic Theology: Pneumatology
- Christian Theology
- Historical Theology
- Historical Theology: Modern
- Historical Theology: Reformation
- Modern World Christianity
- Theology and the Liberal Arts
- Theology in the Age of Romanticism
Membership in Professional Societies
- American Academy of Religion
- American Society of Church History
- Friends of Coleridge
- Historical Society of the United Methodist Church
- Venerable John Henry Newman Association
- Wesleyan Theological Society
- Wordsworth-Coleridge Association
Research
- Methodist History
- Wesleyan Theology
- World Christianity
- Global Pentecostalism
- Romanticism and Religion
- Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
- Doctrine of the Church
- Literature and Theology
Publications
Book Publications
Editor. Later Eighteenth-Century Britain to 1832 (tentative title) in Documents of Anglophone Christianity. Gen. eds. Roger Lundin and Debora Shuger. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. Under contract for publication in 2012.
Coleridge, the Bible, and Religion. Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Editor. Coleridge’s Assertion of Religion: Essays on the Opus Maximum. Studies in Philosophical Theology, no. 33. Louvain: Peeters Press, 2006.
Journal Articles and Contributions to Books
“Coleridge, Christology, and the Language of Redemption.” Anglican Theological Review (2011). Forthcoming.
“John Wesley and the Early Church: History, Antiquity, and the Spirit of God,” in Evangelicals and the Early Church, ed. George Kalantzis (pub. TBA). Forthcoming.
“Asbury, Francis”; “Bushnell, Horace”; “ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor”; “Mott, John R.”; “Newman, John Henry”; “Taylor, Jeremy”; “Wesley, Charles”; “Wesley, John,” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, eds. George Thomas Kurian and James D. Smith III. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
“Suffering Servant: Grief and Consolation in Sara Coleridge’s Poems,” The Coleridge Bulletin: The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s 33 (2009): 80-88.
“The Leadership of the Church in a Global Society,” Catalyst: Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives for United Methodist Seminarians 35.3 (2009).
“Sara Coleridge the Victorian Theologian: Between Newman’s Tractarianism and Wesley’s Methodism,” The Coleridge Bulletin: The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 28 (2006): 29–36.
“The Quest for Truth: An Introduction to Coleridge’s Lifelong Dream” (pp. 1–32) and “Science and the Depersonalization of the Divine: Pantheism, Unitarianism, and the Limits of Natural Theology” (pp. 163–85) in Coleridge’s Assertion of Religion (2006).
“Coleridge and the ‘Master-Key’ of Biblical Interpretation,” Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology 45 (2004): 1–21.
“Newman and the Interpretation of Inspired Scripture,” Theological Studies 63 (2002): 53–67.
“Scripture and Tradition at the Council of Trent: Reapplying the ‘Conciliar Hermeneutic,’” Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 33 (2001): 127–46.
“Coleridge, Samuel Taylor,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians, eds. Patrick W. Carey and Joseph Lienhard (Westport: Greenwood, 2000; pbk. 2002), 130–31.
“The Development of Coleridge’s Notion of Human Freedom: The Translation and Re-Formation of German Idealism in England,” Journal of Religion 80 (2000): 576–94.
Book Reviews
Review of Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, edited by Allan Anderson, Michael Bergunder, et al. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010). Journal of Ecclesiastical History. Forthcoming.
Review of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Anglican Church, by Luke Savin Herrick Wright (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 2010). Journal of Church and State. Forthcoming.
Review of Faith in the Fight: Religion and the American Soldier in the Great War, by Jonathan H. Ebel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010). Journal of Ecclesiastical History. Forthcoming.
Review essay of Coleridge and Liberal Religious Thought: Romanticism, Science and Theological Tradition, by Graham Neville (IB Tauris, 2010) and Suzanne E. Webster, Body and Soul in Coleridge’s Notebooks, 1827-1834 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010). European Romantic Review. Forthcoming.
Review of The Old Enemies: Catholic and Protestant in Nineteenth-Century English Culture, by Michael Wheeler (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) and The English Cult of Literature: Devoted Readers, 1774-1880, by William R. McKelvy (Victorian Literature and Culture Series [Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007]). Wordsworth Circle. Forthcoming.
Review of The Blackwell Companion to the Bible as Literature, edited by Rebecca Lemon (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2009). Coleridge Bulletin: The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 35 (2010): 95-100.
Review of Coleridge, Form, and Symbol: Or the Ascertaining Vision, by Nicholas Reid (Nineteenth Century Series [Ashgate, 2006]). Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net(RaVoN) 55 (2009). [http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/039567ar]
Review of The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect, by Kenneth G. C. Newport (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Journal of Ecclesiastical History 59 (2008): 177-78.
Review of The Fountain Light: Studies in Romanticism and Religion, ed. by J. Robert Barth, S.J. (Studies in Religion and Literature, 5 [New York: Fordham University Press, 2002]). Coleridge Bulletin: The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 30 (2007): 39-42.
Review of I’m the Teacher, You’re the Student: A Semester in the University Classroom, by Patrick Allitt (University Park, Penn.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education 2 (2007): 5–7. I published a revised review of this book in the Wheaton BITH department newsletter in February 2009.
Review of The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody, by David W. Bebbington (History of Evangelicalism [InterVarsity, 2005]). Journal of Ecclesiastical History 57 (2006): 628–29.
Review of Coleridge and Newman: The Centrality of Conscience, by Philip C. Rule (Studies in Religion and Literature, 8 [New York: Fordham University Press, 2004]). Theological Studies 66 (2005): 678–80.
Review of The Broad Church: A Biography of a Movement, by Tod E. Jones (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2003). Church History: Studies in Christianity & Culture 73 (2004): 695–97.
Review of Romanticism and Transcendence: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Religious Imagination, by J. Robert Barth (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003). Theological Studies 65 (2004): 675.
Review of Coleridge’s Writings, vol. 4: On Religion and Psychology, ed. John Beer (New York: Palgrave, 2002). Coleridge Bulletin: The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 23 (2004): 88–91.
Review of The Challenge of Coleridge: Ethics and Interpretation in Romanticism and Modern Philosophy, by David P. Haney (Literature and Philosophy [University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001]). Coleridge Bulletin : The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 21 (2003): 109–112.
Review of Marginalia V , by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, eds. H. J. Jackson and George Whalley (Vol. 12 of The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Kathleen Coburn, Bollingen Series, 75 [Princeton, N.J.: Princeton, 2001]). Coleridge Bulletin : The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge n.s. 20 (2002): 141–46. [2500 word review of the critical edition.]
Review of Ruskin’s God (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, 24, by Michael Wheeler [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999]). Church History : Studies in Christianity & Culture 70 (2001): 799–800.
Review of Coleridge, Philosophy and Religion: Aids to Reflection and the Mirror of the Spirit, by Douglas Hedley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). Journal of Religion 81 (2001): 664–65.
Review of In Discordance with the Scriptures: American Protestant Battles over Translating the Bible, by Peter C. Thuesen (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). Theological Studies 61 (2000): 587–88.
Review of The Character of God: Recovering the Lost Literary Power of American Protestantism , by Thomas E. Jenkins (Religion in America Series, [New York: Oxford University Press, 1997]). Christian Scholar’s Review 24 (2000): 609–11.
Review of An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777–1880 , by Paul C. Gutjahr (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999). Theological Studies 61 (2000): 190–91.
Review of Protestant Evangelical Literary Culture and Contemporary Society , by Jan Blodgett (Contributions to the Study of Religion, No. 51 [Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997]). Christian Scholar’s Review 28 (1999): 616–18.
Conference Papers
“Coleridge and American Romanticism: On Language and the Religious Community.” Coleridge Summer Conference, Cannington College, Somerset, England, July 2010.
“The Spirit and Christian Antiquity: John Wesley, History, and the Early Church.” Evangelicals and the Early Church: Recovery, Reform, and Renewal. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, March 2010.
“Romantic Imagination, Biblical Language, and the Doctrine of Creation.” Invited lecture. Text and Truth Series, Holy Trinity Church at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, February 2010.
“The Kingdom of God in Global Perspective: E. Stanley Jones, Trinitarian Theology, and World Religions.” American Society of Church History, Montreal, Quebec, March 2009.
“The Object of Pleasure: Methodism, Leisure, and the Use of ‘Unprofitable Diversions.’” Midwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, March 2009.
“John R. Mott, Pneumatology, and Global Ecumenism.” Conference on Faith and History, Bluffton University, Bluffton, Ohio, September 2008.
“Suffering Servant: Grief and Consolation in Sara Coleridge’s Poems.” Coleridge Summer Conference, Cannington College, Somerset, England, July 2008.
“The Fullness of the Spirit: Richard Watson, Divine Personality, and the Defense of Wesleyan Theology.” Systematic Theology Section. Joint annual meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society & the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, March 2008.
“Thoughts ‘too refined to be popular’: Sara Coleridge, Biblical Exegesis, and Theological Method.” History of Christianity Section. Accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, California, November 2007.
“Coleridge, Christology, and the Language of Redemption.” Nineteenth-Century Theology Group. Annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Washington D.C., November 2006
“John Wesley as Historian of Christian Spirituality.” Conference on Faith and History, Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma, October 2006.
“Between Wesleyan Methodism and Oxford Tractarianism: Sara Coleridge as Victorian Theologian.” Coleridge Summer Conference, Cannington College, Somerset, England, July 2006.
“John Wesley and British Romanticism: Southey and Coleridge on Nineteenth-Century Methodism.” History of Christianity Section. Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Irving, Texas, March 2006.
“The Spirit-Actuated Church: The Intersection of Exegesis and Historiography.” Conference on Faith and History, Hope College, Holland, Michigan, October 2004.
“‘God’s Hand in the World’: Coleridge, Christianity and the Inspired Preacher.” Coleridge Summer Conference, Cannington College, Somerset, England, July 2004.
“Coleridge, Natural Theology and Atheism: The Demonstration of God in Fragment 2 of the Opus Maximum.” S. T. Coleridge and the Opus Maximum: A Reading Workshop. Clare College, University of Cambridge, May 2003.
“Coleridge’s Confessions: An English Apology for Divine Revelation.” Church History Seminar, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, February 2003.
“Text and Context: Newman, Coleridge, and the Secularization of Biblical Interpretation.” American Society of Church History, Chicago, Illinois, January 2003.
“Coleridge and the ‘Master-Key of Interpretation.’” Coleridge Summer Conference, Cannington College, Somerset, England, July 2002.
“‘Picking and Choosing’ from Scripture: Rethinking Tradition in Coleridge’s Confessions.” Joint session of the American Society of Church History and the American Catholic Historical Association. San Francisco, California, January 2002.