What Barfield Thought

“A quarter of a century after Owen Barfield’s death, appreciation and scholarship of his important work is gaining ground and this book stands as a testament to the fact. The authors have skillfully crafted a balanced and measured response to the forthright question: What is Barfieldian philosophy teaching us?”


—Owen A. Barfield, grandson and trustee





“People who know the work of Owen Barfield—including figures such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, T. S. Eliot, and W. H. Auden—affirm that it is not only remarkably interesting, but revolutionary. Wrestling with his thought changes your experience of the world, and this clearly written, thoughtful introduction will lead you to such radical possibilities.”


—Mark Vernon, author of A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling, and the Evolution of Consciousness





“Loftin and Leyf have provided us with the sort of rich but succinct introduction to Owen Barfield’s thought that has been needed for some time. Barfield’s seminal linguistic and poetic theories made an impact on his fellow Inklings, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, and although Barfield continues to be an influence today, he is too often overshadowed by the other Inklings. A useful guidebook is welcome. Here we have one.”


—Addison Hodges Hart, author of The Woman, the Hour, and the Garden: A Study of Imagery in the Gospel of John





“Arguably one of the most important thinkers—romantic or otherwise—of the twentieth century, Owen Barfield has also been one of the most tragically and criminally forgotten. When remembered, he is nearly always an appendage to either C. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkien. Yet, Barfield deserves to be remembered in his own right. Loftin and Leyf have done exactly what desperately needed to be done—they have placed Barfield at the profound center of his own intellectual story.”


—Bradley J. Birzer, author of Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West





“Loftin and Leyf have succeeded in writing precisely the introduction I wish had existed when I began my own studies of Barfield’s thought. This will be a helpful text for newcomers as well as veteran Barfieldians still struggling with difficult distinctions between alpha- and beta-thinking or original and final participation. Interest in Barfield has surged over the past decade, and this timely volume represents one of the best attempts to stand (as Barfield says of Coleridge) ‘inside’ his thought rather than ‘beside’ it.”


—Jake Grefenstette, University of Cambridge