Barfield Scholarship
Essays, Book Chapters, and Monographs
on Owen Barfield and His Work

Jacob Sherman
An Ever Diverse Pair:
Owen Barfield, Teilhard de Chardin
and the Evolution of Consciousness

Introduction

After three or four decades or academic deconstruction and fragmentation, the intellectual climate seems to have shifted once again, subtly but definitely, towards synthesis and re-construction.  Suddenly, one hears of interdisciplinary efforts beginning now here now, now there, and the word integral is in fashion once again.  No longer content with an amalgam of semantic fragments and isolated disciplines engaged in a perpetual struggle determined only by power and not veracity (relative veracity if not absolute), many intellectuals are once again looking for some unifying theory.

As part of the renaissance, it seems appropriate for the Christian to study Owen Barfield and Teilhard de Chardin.  While both authors have achieved some level of prominence (including placement in the HarperCollins produced '100 Greatest Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century' list[1]) they remain largely neglected by many Christian thinkers.  Their visions however, are uniquely expansive and have much to contribute in today's intellectual climate. 

Barfield and Teilhard share many similarities including a deep Christian faith and an integral vision of the evolution of consciousness.  However, despite these obvious similarities, Barfield and Teilhard have scarcely been mentioned within the same sentence, much less examined one in light of the other.  This is unfortunate not only for reasons of curiosity, but because Barfield’s vision contains elements that complement and correct the vast vision of Teilhard de Chardin (who, to a lesser extent, can offer some correction to Barfield).  My thesis is simply that the evolutionary visions of Owen Barfield and Teilhard de Chardin invite comparison because both try to deal with the fact of evolution from within an overall Christian framework.  However, shortcomings in Teilhard's approach (and to a lesser degree, in Barfield's) can be admirably met by attempting a synthesis of the two.

In order to demonstrate this, this thesis is divided into five chapters. Attempting to properly situate Barfield and Teilhard, we begin in chapter one with an examination of the broader cultural and historical interest in progress and evolution.  From this launching point the thesis follows a fairly simple progression.  Chapters two and three are concerned with the evolutionary systems of Teilhard and Barfield respectively.  In attempting to understand Teilhard and Barfield, I seek to give as sympathetic a reading of each author as possible in chapters two and three.  Then, having taken their sides and looked from their vantage points, so to speak, it is possible to move into the realm of fair criticism in chapter four and, to some extent, chapter five.  Specifically, chapter four uses some of Barfield's insights to turn a critical eye on Teilhard not in order to destroy his vision, but in order to salvage it and move towards a possible Barfieldian/Teilhardian synthesis.  Finally, the articulation of such a synthesis (in broad strokes) is the substance of chapter five where we ask how such a synthesis might occur and what it might look like.

[1] Bill Marvel. “List of 100 best spiritual books includes work of popes, Malcolm X, Tolkien.” Dallas Morning News, Sat. Nov. 6, 1999.