Jeffrey Barbeau

• American Christianity
• Autobiography/Memoirs
• British Romanticism
• Global Christianity
• Methodism
• Pentecostalism
• Protestantism
• Religion and Literature
• C. S. Lewis
• Modern Theology

Jeffrey W. Barbeau (Ph.D., Marquette University) is professor of theology at Wheaton College, Editor of The Coleridge Bulletin, and a writer on British Romanticism, religion and literature, and the history of Christian thought.

Early in his education, Barbeau wondered how religion and literature might provide mutually enriching resources for theological reflection. This intuition led him to graduate studies in both theology and English literature, where the life and writings of the philosophical theologian and poet S. T. Coleridge provided a crucial dialogue partner for his work. At Wheaton, he teaches courses in historical and systematic theology and researches the historical and religious context of British literature.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, Dr. Barbeau delivered the Hansen Lectures for the Marion E. Wade Center on the topic “C. S. Lewis and the Romantic Imagination.” In a series of three lectures, he explored the relationship between Lewis and British Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge. He is currently preparing the lectures for publication under the title “The Last Romantic: C. S. Lewis, Modern Theology, and English Literature.”

His books include monographs, anthologies, and edited books, including The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism and Religion (2021), The Spirit of Methodism: From the Wesleys to a Global Communion (2019), Religion in Romantic England (2018), and Sara Coleridge: Her Life and Thought (2014), which was praised in the Times Literary Supplement: "Sara Coleridge emerges from these pages as an intellectually formidable, powerfully compassionate and rigorously scholarly figure who bore the many difficulties of her life with profound nobility."

His articles and reviews have appeared in publications such as the Journal of Religion, Methodist Review: A Journal of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies, Anglican Theological Review, Heythrop Journal, European Romantic Review, Journal of Church and State, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, and The Wordsworth Circle.

For more information, including scholarly publications, see his website.

• American Academy of Religion
• Conference on Christianity and Literature
• Friends of Coleridge
• Historical Society of the United Methodist Church
• International Conference on Romanticism
• Wesleyan Theological Society
• Wordsworth-Coleridge Association

• Spiritual Autobiography
• Christianity in Romantic England
• Women Writing Theology
• John Wesley and Methodism
• Theology through C. S. Lewis
• Theology and the Liberal Arts
• Christian Thought
• Historical Theology
• World Christianity

"Romantic Religion, Life Writing, and Conversion Narratives." The Wordsworth Circle
Jeffrey W. Barbeau, 2016

"D.T. Niles, the Church, and the Fellowship of the Spirit." Methodist Review: A Journal of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies

Jeffrey W. Barbeau, 2016

"Sara Coleridge on Love and Romance." The Wordsworth Circle
Jeffrey W. Barbeau, 2015

“Come, Holy Spirit: Reflections on Christian Faith and Practice." Spirit of God: Christian Renewal in the Community of Faith

Jeffrey W. Barbeau and Beth Felker Jones, 2015

“Enthusiasts, Rationalists, and Pentecost: The Holy Spirit in Eighteenth-Century Methodism.” Spirit of God: Christian Renewal in the Community of Faith
Jeffrey W. Barbeau, 2015

“Who is the Holy Spirit?” Theology Questions our Students Ask: A Conversation between Students and Teachers
Ed. Gary Burge and David Lauber, 2014

“John Wesley and Christian Antiquity: History, the Spirit, and the Early Church.” Evangelicals and the Early Church: Recovery, Reform, Renewal
Ed. George Kalantzis and Andrew Tooley, 2012