Fathers Study Group Reading Listpage 1

FATHERS’ STUDY GROUP READING LIST (1998 to present)

Stenson, James: Upbringing.

Idem: Lifeline.

Idem: Compass.

Idem: “A Father’s Reflections”.

Kilpatrick, William K.: Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong (Introduction, chapters 2–3, 10–11).

Helming, Dennis: Reinventing Dad (published both as a Scepter booklet and as a chapter from The Examined Life).

Isaacs, David: CharacterBuilding (pp. 12–44, chapters 3–6).

Kipling, Rudyard: Captains Courageous.

Faulkner, William: “The Bear” (short story).

More, Sir Thomas: Letters to William Gonnell, to his wife, and to his children (available in Wegemer and Smith, Thomas More Source Book).

Idem: “On having an honored position in society; on riches” and “On pride” (available in Wegemer and Smith, Thomas More Source Book).

Platt, Michael: “The Myth of the Teenager,” The Farrago, June-July 1994.

Chesterton, G. K.: Brave New Family (ed. Alvaro de Silva), selections (including pp. 31–36, 105–108, 53–61, 70–75, 172–174).

Potok, Chaim: The Chosen.

Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited.

Brooks, David: “The Organization Kid,” TheAtlantic Monthly, April 2001.

Burke, Cormac: “Ideals in Youth” and other chapters from Covenanted Happiness.

Lewis, C. S.: The Four Loves.

Pieper, Josef: The Four Cardinal Virtues.

Kreeft, Peter: “The Liberal Arts and Sexual Morality,” Crisis, April 2003.

Edmundson, Mark: “On the Uses of a Liberal Education”, Harper’s, September 1997 (

Reno, R. R.: “Postmodern Irony and Petronian Humanism” from In the Ruins of the Church.

Conyers, A. J.: “The Meaning of Vocation” from The Listening Heart, in conjunction with James Stenson, “The Vision of Parent Leaders” (

Sheed, F. J.: Society and Sanity (chapter 8, “The Nature of Sex and Marriage,” and chapter 9, “Marriage and the Law of God”).

Hart, David B.: “The Pornography Culture,” The New Atlantis, Summer 2004 (

Chekhov, Anton, “Home” (short story, available at

“Grow Up? Not So Fast,” Time, January 24, 2005; in conjunction with Stenson, Father, The Family Protector, chapter 2, “Be Savvy about Your Mission—to Raise Adults, Not Children.”

O’Connor, Flannery: “Revelation,” short story from Everything that Rises Must Converge.

Sommerville, John: “Why the News Makes Us Dumb,” First Things, October 1991.

John Paul II: Letter to Families (1994).

Weil, Simone: “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God,” Simone Weil Reader (ed. Panichas).

Pakaluk, Michael: Eight essays on friendship (

Rosen, Christine: “The Age of Egocasting,” The New Atlantis, Fall 2004–Winter 2005 (

Guroian, Vigen: “Family Offices: Teaching Children to Love Being Sons and Daughters,” Touchstone, July-August 2005.

Meilaender, Gilbert: “Men and Women—Can We Be Friends?”, First Things, June–July 1993 (

St John Chrysostom: “On Vainglory and the Upbringing of Children,” in Maurice Wiles and Mark Santer, eds, Documents in Early Christian Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1977), pp 216–223.

Cather, Willa: Death Comes for the Archbishop.

Stenson, James: “Danger Signs: Families Headed for Trouble” and “How Does a Father Protect His Family?” ( Both essays are taken from Father: The Family Protector.

Readings on chastity: St Augustine: Confessions, Bk 2, ch 2–3; Bk 3, ch 1–2; Bk 6, ch 11–16; in conjunction with Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶¶ 2331–2350, 2514–2527.

Scruton, Roger: “Real Men Have Manners”, City Journal, Winter 2000 (

Tolstoy, Leo: The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Suggestions received for future readings:

Miner, Brad: The Compleat Gentleman (Dallas: Spence Publishing, 2004), chapters 5, 7, and 8.

Myrer, Anton: Once an Eagle (1968) (novel—very long).

Blankenhorn, David: Fatherless America (New York: Basic Book, 1995).

Homer: The Odyssey.

Shakespeare, William: King Lear.

[*] There are two short stories by Chekhov called “Home.” We read the one that begins, “‘Somebody came from the Grigorievs’ to fetch a book . . .’”, which can also be found in Selected Stories, introduction and notes by Joe Andrew, Wordsworth Classics.