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John Cuddeback

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.

Articles by John Cuddeback

Sitting on the Porch

“I cannot separate it [watching the world go by] from the porch where it occurs. The action and the space are indivisible. The action is supported by this kind of…
July 5, 2017

Living These Relationships, Every Day

"Therefore, it is clear that the care of the household concerns human beings more than material property..." Aristotle, Politics "Here Aristotle infers that the chief aim of [parents] concerns these…
February 15, 2017

Making a Castle, This Time of Year

"At this time of the year--the Christmas and New Year time--I am seldom out of my Castle. For the associations of the season seem to hold me there, and the…
December 28, 2016

This is Our Story

“For the man that is truly good and wise, we think, bears all the chances of life becomingly and always makes the best of circumstances...as a good shoemaker makes the…
November 9, 2016

A Space for Children in the Home

“If children do not have space to release a tremendous amount of energy when they need to, they will drive themselves and everybody else in the family up the wall.”…
July 6, 2016

The Craft of Education

“Then education is the craft concerned with doing this very thing, this turning around, and with how the soul can most easily and effectively be made to do it.” Plato,…
April 20, 2016

Learning to Wait

"Through delayed fulfillment, good desires grow stronger." Gregory the Great Almost fifty years ago the famous marshmallow experiment suggested the importance of being able to wait. There are many troubling…
April 6, 2016

My Wife Has What I Need

“Men and women, however, live together not only to procreate children but also to have whatever is needed for life. Indeed, from the beginning, family duties are distinct; some are…
March 23, 2016

Laying Waste Our Fields

“That day when Turnus raised the flag of war… The high commanders… From every quarter drew repeated levies And laid the wide fields waste of their field hands.” Virgil, The…
March 4, 2016

Asking for Direction in Baffling Times

"All Italians, all the Oenotrian land, Resorted to this place in baffling times, Asking direction; here a priest brought gifts..." Virgil, The Aeneid What do I do now? I often…
February 24, 2016

When a Child Leaves Home

“Darling, haven’t you ever heard of a delightful little thing called boarding school?” So Baroness Schraeder responds to Max’s inquiry how she will deal with seven children upon wedding Captain…
February 10, 2016

One Good Politician

It can be discouraging watching people vie for political power. That they are motivated by a concern for our good is often hard to believe. A man like Aristides is…
February 3, 2016