Dr. D. T. Sheffler
2025 IAHE Parenting and Homeschool Conference Speaker
Dr. D. T. Sheffler
Memoria Press
Dr. D. T. Sheffler is a professor of philosophy at Memoria College. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and M.A. in classics from the University of Kentucky. He has taught philosophy, Latin, Greek, history, composition, and great books at the college and high school level. He lives in Louisville with his wife, Rose, and three children, Ebenezer, Autumn, and Phineas.
Workshop
Hero, Knight, Saint: The Development of Virtue
We read literature, in part, because we need to imagine virtue and valor, heroism and strength. This act of imagining both teaches us what it is to be good and attracts us by the allure and beauty of the telling. But not all admirable protagonists are the same. We meet very different archetypes in strong figures such as Theseus, chivalrous figures such as Galahad, and holy figures such as Saint Francis. In this talk, I will explain the progression from Hero to Knight to Saint, with examples from the classical literature, and I will argue that you should have all of these abundantly in your child’s curriculum.