A Symposium Inspired by Owen Barfield
Sunday 9th November 2025, Rudolf Steiner House, 2.30pm – 6pm
Meaning and imagination are two intertwined themes throughout the writing career of philosopher and poet Owen Barfield, whose ideas inspired the likes of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and T. S. Eliot. This symposium will explore these two central themes of Barfield’s work, his debt to spiritual traditions from Neoplatonism to Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy, and his relevance to contemporary issues such as the meaning crisis and the secular age.
Join authors Mark Vernon and Jeffrey Hipolito together with poets Sir Ben Okri and Hilary Davies for a lively mix of talks, poetry readings and conversations exploring Barfield’s lasting influence, the nature of the imagination and man’s eternal search for meaning.
Organised in collaboration with Rudolf Steiner House
Speakers
Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist, podcaster and writer of journalistic articles as well as books. He has a PhD in ancient Greek philosophy, and degrees in theology and physics. His books include A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness; Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey and most recently Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination. He used to be a priest in the Church of England and lives in south London. For more see www.markvernon.com
Jeffrey Hipolito is the chairperson of the Owen Barfield Society. He is the author of Owen Barfield’s Poetic Philosophy: Meaning and Imagination (Bloomsbury, 2024) and Owen Barfield’s Poetry, Drama, and Fiction: Rider on Pegasus (Routledge, 2024). His most recent book, which explores the influence of Anthroposophy on Barfield’s thoughts about life, love, and death is Owen Barfield: Philosopher, Poet, Anthroposophist (forthcoming, Barfield Press). He is currently at work on a series of essays about W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, Owen Barfield, H.D., and T.S. Eliot as spiritual artists responding in imaginative ways to the problems of the secular age.
Sir Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright. He has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. He has also received many honorary doctorates for his contribution to Literature. His books of poems include: A Fire in My Head -Poems for the Dawn, Mental Fight: An Epic Poem and Wild. His latest novel is Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted (Bloomsbury, 2025).
Hilary Davies is a poet, essayist and translator. Her fifth collection, Compass Light, will be published from Renard Press in September 2025. She is a former Chairman of the Poetry Society, Eric Gregory award winner and Hawthornden Fellow. She has been an RLF Fellow at King’s College, London and the British Library, and is a Fellow of the English Association and the Temenos Academy. In 2023 she was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year award.
Tickets
£25 General Admission
£15 Temenos Academy Members/ Full-time students with ID card
Tickets can be purchased HERE
Enquires: temenosacademy@myfastmail.com or 07513 883 335
