What Barfield thought

"Romantic religion" is ostensibly an analysis of the ideas and writings of the Inklings: Owen Barfield, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and J.R.R. Tolkien. In reality, most of the book is about Barfield, who seems to be some kind of personal favourite of R.J. Reilly's.

Nothing wrong with that.

In fact, "Romantic religion" is the best introduction to Barfield's thoughts I have seen. Barfield is notoriously hard to understand, and even more difficult to really "get". Reading the extensive Barfield chapter in this book might be a good place to start. It should be noted that Reilly isn't an expert on Rudolf Steiner, Barfield's main inspirator, and therefore reads Steiner through Barfieldian glasses, as it were. But then, so did Barfield himself, so this is not necessarily a minus either. Personally, I consider Steiner to be frustrating, since he seems to have combined interesting philosophical insights with sheer bunk, occasionally bordering the ridiculous or insane. (Steiner founded a new religion, known as Anthroposophy.) I'm surprised that a seemingly intelligent person such as Barfield could have so uncritically fallen for this man.

The chapters on Lewis, Williams and Tolkien are also interesting, but are really a kind of afterthought to the bulk of the book. In the chapter on Lewis, Reilly argues that Lewis' Christianity was really a kind of baptized Romanticism, and that Barfield had a decisive influence on him. Others would differ, including (somewhat ironically) Barfield himself! For another perspective, see G.B. Tennyson's "Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis" and Lionel Adey's "C.S. Lewis Great War with Owen Barfield".

The most fascinating chapter deals with Charles Williams, whose works I've never read, but who was apparently a former member of the Golden Dawn (the A.E. Waite version), while also considering himself a Christian. Judging by Reilly's description, his interpretation of the Christian message did emphasize romantic love (including erotic love), and had affinities with Hermetism, Neo-Platonism and the Kabbala. This erotic mysticism is surely connected to the Golden Dawn in one way or another.

I only skimmed the Tolkien chapter, but it seems to be the least interesting one, essentially a rather heavy and scholarly literary criticism of "The Lord of the Rings". Sounds familiar?

In sum, "Romantic religion" might not tell you much about Lewis and Tolkien, while giving a few tantalizing glimpses of Williams. But above all, it's a work about what Barfield thought!