Owen Barfield

Owen Barfield (1898-1997) was a British philosopher and literary critic whose work significantly influenced twentieth-century Christian thought and philosophy of consciousness. Best known for his theory of the evolution of consciousness and critique of scientific materialism, Barfield argued that human consciousness has evolved through distinct stages, from "original participation" in ancient times to the modern separation of subject and object. His philosophical theology emphasized that language and metaphor reveal spiritual realities, challenging reductionist accounts of religious experience. As a member of the Inklings alongside C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Barfield's ideas about imagination, meaning, and divine presence in nature shaped modern Christian apologetics. His major works include Saving the Appearances (1957) and Worlds Apart (1963), which explore the relationship between human consciousness, divine reality, and religious knowing.