John Cuddeback

John Cuddeback
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John A. Cuddeback is a professor and chairman of the Philosophy Department at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, where he has taught since 1995. He received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Catholic University of America under the direction of F. Russell Hittinger. He has lectured on various topics including virtue, culture, natural law, friendship, and household. His book Friendship: The Art of Happiness was republished in 2010 as True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness. His writings have appeared in Nova et Vetera, The Thomist, and The Review of Metaphysics, as well as in several volumes published by the American Maritain Association. Though raised in what he calls an ‘archetypical suburb,’ Columbia, Maryland, he and his wife Sofia consider themselves blessed to be raising their six children in the shadow of the Blue Ridge on the banks of the Shenandoah. At the material center of their homesteading projects are heritage breed pigs, which like the pigs of Eumaeus are fattened on acorns, yielding a bacon that too few people ever enjoy. His website dedicated to the philosophy of family and household is baconfromacorns.com.

Recent Essays

Living Pleasantly from the Land

“In the first place, thanks to those who work it, the land bears not only the means for people to live, but also bears...

The Death of a Tree

I have never thought much about the death of trees. Until today. I have thought about the death of farm animals, since I kill with...

Picture-Books in Winter

“Water now is turned to stone Nurse and I can walk upon; Still we find the flowing brooks In the picture storybooks. … How am I to sing your...

Clean Eyes

“Again, one time Sophocles, who was Pericles’ fellow-commissioner in the generalship, was going on board with him, and praised the beauty of a youth...

Remembering Death

"You are dust, and to dust you will return." Genesis Some images are striking reminders of death. There are few like seeing your name etched...

The Slavery of Women, and Men

“But among barbarians no distinction is made between women and slaves…” Aristotle, Politics Barbarians can be accused of a number of things, but presumably they cannot...

Parents Ruling by Love and Age

“For the begetter is the ruler by reason of love and age…” Aristotle, Politics Perhaps we do not normally think of parents as rulers. Aristotle...

Acquainted with Grief

"He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Handel's Messiah, Air from Part II, quoting Isaiah 53 Being acquainted...

Fathers and Sons

Hunting season is a time for fathers and sons. I have posted a reflection at The Catholic Gentleman on the need our sons have...

Grateful to be a Teacher

“It’s no easy task—indeed it’s very difficult—to realize that in every soul there is an instrument that is purified and rekindled by such subjects...

A Different Approach to Money in the Household

“So if one doesn’t know how to make use of it, Critobulus, then money must be kept at such a distance that it isn’t...

A Good Wife

“Nothing is better for man than a good wife...” Hesiod, Works and Days One might wonder whether that is an overstatement. It was once suggested to me...