Project Standfast

ENCOURAGING PARENTS WITH A DEEPLY-ROOTED UNDERSTANDING OF COVENANT’S MISSION & PHILOSOPHY.

2 0 2 3 - 2 0 2 4 

What do we want most--really, sincerely, honestly? Freedom, pleasure, success, wealth, respect--or holiness? The straight path to righteousness is beset on all sides by temptations to love anything--anything at all--more than we love God. What do we do about it? How can we order our desires, and help our children to order their desires, according to God's plan?

James K. A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin University and author of On the Road with St. Augustine, will address our present cultural confusion and help us think through the problem of self-knowledge in the context of Augustine's Confessions. Jamie is a dynamic speaker with a wealth of practical wisdom about habit formation and the cultural practices that lead us closer to God.

Melissa Cain Travis

Project Standfast Recordings

• Bruce Herman - Making/Breaking: From Eucatastrophe to Eucharist

  • Why do we need art especially during a pandemic or a time of war?   Painter and educator Professor Bruce Herman provides encouraging words during discouraging times.  Herman holds the Lothlórien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts at Gordon College where he is Professor of Art, and has taught & curated exhibitions since 1984.

• Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung - The Seven Capital Vices and Character Formation

  • As parents, we talk a great deal with our children about good grades, a good college, and a good job.  But, what about a good life?   Award wining author Dr. DeYoung introduces us to ancient Christian wisdom, one that helps us better understand the vanity of those glittering alternatives and the real happiness virtue provides. 

• Jessica Hooten Wilson - How to Move from Cancelling to Inviting

  • Why do we encourage reading a broad range of literature at Covenant?  Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas Dr. Wilson discusses how great books provide what C.S. Lewis calls an “enlargement of our being.”

• Wilfred McClay – A Living and Loving Connection to History

  • Is America a land of hope?  Victor Davis Hanson Chair in Classical History and Western Civilization at Hillsdale College Dr. McClay speaks about his book Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story - a timely book that attempts to provide “readers young and old alike an accurate, responsible, coherent, persuasive, and inspiring narrative of their country.” 

• Francis Su - Mathematics for Human Flourishing

  • Is mathematics just for the mathematically inclined?  Distinguished mathematics professor and former president of the Mathematical Association of America Dr. Su helps us reimagine math's power to liberate the soul of every student.  

• Jennifer Frey – Virtue and Happiness

  • Is virtue the best way to the happiness we desire?  University of South Carolina philosophy professor Dr. Jennifer Frey makes a case for classical virtue as a means to human flourishing.  Dr. Frey is a philosopher and public intellectual who models for us a rare ability: humble philosophical wonder. Check out her podcast Sacred and Profane Love to learn more. 

• Kelly M. Kapic -Parents, You’re Only Human: How Limits Are God’s Gifts

  • Since the Garden, we have distrusted the good of God’s boundaries, a distrust that continues to bring suffering to ourselves and the ones we love. Covenant College professor Dr. Kapic helps us consider how our creaturely limitations lead to the kind of flourishing we deeply desire.

Classical Christian Charlotte Mason Inspired Education

Want a greater return on your investment in your children?  Start by reading something from Covenant's Essentials Reading List. 

1. For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  This introduction to Charlotte Mason's philosophy is a must-read for parents and educators alike.  

2. Wisdom and Eloquence by Robert Littlejohn and Charles T. Evans.  This influential classical education primer broadens the conversation from a trivium arts focus to the mathematical arts and sciences of the quadrivium and so much more.

3. Invitation to the Classics edited by Louis Cowan and Os Guinness.  This is a guide for many of the great books we read at Covenant.  The essays are brief, insightful, and inspiring.  A must for every household.  

4. You Are What You Love:The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith.  Jamie Smith makes Augustine's thought come to life today.  Learn why education is also about shaping loves.

5. Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen.  This humorous take on all the ways we undermine our children's imagination will inspire better habits for home life.

6. The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction by Meghan Cox Gurdon.  Want to save culture?  It might surprise you to hear that one of the best things we can do with our families is read aloud.   

7. Mathematics for Human Flourishing by Francis Su. This book will change your view of math from a hurdle to overcome to an opportunity for wonder, play, beauty, and all the things we long for as humans.   

8. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. Daniel. Learn more about how the brain works and ways to encourage successful learning evening at home.

9. Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari.  Published in 2022 this book investigates how our brain has been taken hostage by bad habits and bad actors who continue to make our families vulnerable.  Learn too how sleep, reading stories, and play help to restore us. 

10. 30 Poems To Memorize (Before It's Too Late) edited by David Kern. These poems and helpful reflections are sure to become inspiring friends for life.

Parent Resources & Podcasts

Encouraging parents with a deeply-rooted understanding of Covenant’s mission & philosophy.

FALL 2021 - SPRING 2022

Raising Sturdy Kids
Keith A. McCurdy, LPC
Wed, Sept 1, 7-8:30 pm
Rhetoric Hall Attic

Helping fledgling children mature into flourishing adults is a core value for the Covenant Community. Join Keith McCurdy, a family and parenting educator and Licensed Professional Counselor who will deepen our understanding of teen mental health and provide practical tools to shepherd students through struggles with anxiety or depression. 

Check out Live Sturdy for more information and his podcast.

Mathematics for Human Flourishing
Francis Su, Ph.D.
Thurs, Jan 13, 7-8:30 pm
Rhetoric Hall Attic

An excellent mathematics program must do more than cultivate math ability. It must deepen our attention to and sympathies for the truth, goodness, and beauty inherent in God’s creation, ultimately developing in us the kind of character and virtue necessary for human flourishing. Join Dr. Su, a distinguished mathematics teacher and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America as he helps us understand the liberating power of mathematics. See his website for more information.