If you have ever had a deeply moving personal experience with God, you know it can be something that words cannot adequately convey. Perhaps it is deeply emotional, powerful, and moving. The experience solidifies your conviction that what you believe about God is true. You might also believe God "spoke" to you in that moment. But given that there are a multitude of other religions today with devotees who claim to have similar experiences, how can we know that what we have experienced is an authentic movement of the God who is there? This week and next on the Profile, we talk with theologian and literary scholar Dr. Jeffrey Barbeau about his new book The Last Romantic - C.S. Lewis, English Literature, and Modern Theology and how Lewis's thoughts about Romantic poetry might give us some insight about the nature of personal religious experiences and how properly to think about them.
Jeffery 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. His books include monographs, anthologies, and edited books, including The Last Romantic: C. S. Lewis, English Literature, and Modern Theology (2025), 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).
Related Links: Go deeper with these related apologetics tools:
- Watchman Fellowship's Spiritual Abuse Recovery Workbook by David Henke: www.watchman.org/SA
- Watchman Fellowship Profile on the International Christian Church: by Steve Matthews and Dr. Brady Blevins: www.watchman.org/ICC
- Watchman Fellowship Profile on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Tim Martin: www.watchman.org/Mormonism
- Watchman Fellowship Profile on Atheism by Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Jr: www.watchman.org/Mormonism
- Watchman Fellowship Profile on the Islam by James Walker: www.watchman.org/Muslim
- Former Latter-day Saint, Isaac Hess, describes Mormonism's "Burning in the Bosom" https://youtu.be/ChULWVM6AF8
Additional Resources
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