Chronological History

Sometimes we speak of world history as though it belongs to people. It doesn't—it belongs to God, and though people play prominently within the historical narrative, it always remains under God's auspices and control. The problem with losing the right perspective isn't that we'll get the facts wrong, it's that we'll fail to understand what they mean, what the purpose of past events is, and what we can look forward to.

Human history began all at once in the same place: the Garden of Eden, where God made Adam and Eve as the crown of all Creation. He told them to fill the earth and take dominion of it, and He also told them not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They ate the fruit anyway, and mankind was removed from paradise and introduced to tension, pain, and resistance.

The story of the world is in many ways simply the story of adversity. For the enemies of God, it's adversity in the form of the failure and futility of purely human endeavor; for God's people, it's the story of fighting for the truth against secular philosophies, fighting for holiness despite the pervasiveness of sin, and fighting for the Gospel in the face of persecution and death.

Jesus Christ is our only hope. He is the Prince of Peace, the defeater of Death, and the King of the Universe, the saver of souls and the punisher of wickedness. His kingdom is the restoration and glorious fulfillment of the paradise from which Adam and Eve were removed, and we work, wait, hope and pray for the quick fulfillment of His will in all things.

This is our framework for history. While it's important to study things like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the ancient Near East, it's only important when investigated through the lens of God's ultimate sovereignty and plan. The story of mankind is the story of redemption, and only when we analyze battles, kings, treaties, and catastrophes from God's perspective can we truly make sense of them.

Otherwise, it's all fairly irrelevant and useless. Sure, there's Napoleon's dictum that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, but a quick survey of the past will show that each successive generation does repeat the sins of their fathers, and that without Christ's real physical life on Earth as a centering point, there's no real cause for optimism or hope of any kind.

Christ's love not only makes the trajectory of history cause for hope; it reveals the truly great moments of the past, events that to the secular eye seem insignificant or even pernicious. We're speaking of the progress of the true Church, of course, and of each soul that God calls and makes His own through the agency of His Holy Spirit. These are the milestones we look for and celebrate.

We carry a lot of world history products. Because it's the story of God's work in the world and our human responses, we believe it's important to know and understand. Not everything we carry is Christian; there are plenty of secular resources here. We encourage you to use whichever ones work best for your situation, but that you do so with a view to understanding the will and work of the One who made history in the first place.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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192 Items found Print
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
from Graphia
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
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1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Admiral Richard Byrd
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by Paul Rink
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Against the World
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Alexander the Great
Sterling Point Books
by John Gunther
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
from History Compass
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Along Came Galileo
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And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
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Anne Bradstreet
by Faith Cook
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
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Archimedes and the Door of Science
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Archimedes and the Door of Science
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Artist of the Reformation
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Augustine Came to Kent
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Betty Before X
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Beyond the Myth
by Polly Schoyer Brooks
from Sandpiper Books
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Beyond the Sacred Page
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Bible Smuggler
by Louise Vernon
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Biography of Benjamin Franklin
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
by Burke Davis
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Boy on the Wooden Box
by Leon Leyson
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Boy's War
by David Michell
1st edition from OMF
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Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
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Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
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Chance to Die
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Christopher Columbus
by John Abbott
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Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
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Coronation of Glory
Reformation Trail Series #12
by Deborah Meroff
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D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
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$19.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths - Audio CD
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
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Danger in the Desert
by Roger Cohen
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Diary of a Young Girl
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Eagle and the Fort
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Eleanor's Story
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Elizabeth I
by Jacob Abbott, updated for the present day reader by Knox Merkle
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Ernest Shackleton
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Dreher
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Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Sansevere-Dreher, Illustrated by Ed Renfro
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Fabulous Opal Whiteley
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Faithful Spy
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Falcons of France
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
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Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century
by Robert G. Shearer
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For God and Country
by John Riddle
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General George Patton
Sterling Point Books
by Alden Hatch
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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George B. McClellan
by Michael McHugh
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
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George Washington
Sterling Point Books
by Sterling North
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George Washington
Sowers Series
by Norma Cournow Camp
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George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
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Girl in a Cage
Stewart Quartet
by Jane Yolen, Robert Harris
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Glimpses of Truth
Book of Books #1
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God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
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Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
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Great Adventurers of the Twentieth Century
by Ron Tagliapietra
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Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
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Here I Stand
by Roland H. Bainton
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Here I Stand
by Roland H. Bainton
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Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
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Hero Tales from American History
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
Paperback, First Printing from Tolle Lege Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Hey, Mac!
by William F. McMurdie
from American Home-School Publishing
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Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
35th Anniversary Edition from Chosen Books
Biography for 6th-10th grade
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$15.99
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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Hitler
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$13.95
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
from Bookshelf Central
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Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
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Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
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Jessie Benton Fremont
by Marguerite Higgins
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John Bunyan
by William Deal
from Christian Liberty Press
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John Calvin, Genius of Geneva
Reformation Trail Series #07
by Lawrence Penning
from Inheritance Publications
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$19.95
John Flynn
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
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in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca
Dover editions
by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
from Dover Publications
for 5th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$10.95
Journey That Saved Curious George
by Louise W. Borden
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$8.99
Journey That Saved Curious George
by Louise W. Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond
from The PJ Library
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Juan Ponce de Leon
by Louise Chipley Slavicek
1st edition from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Kitty, My Rib
by E. Jane Mall
from Concordia Publishing House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
from HarperTrophy
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$9.99
Lawrence of Arabia
Sterling Point Books
by Alistair Maclean
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in World War I (1914-1919) (Location: HISA-20WW1)
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
by Mildred R. Taylor
Reissue from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$9.99
Life & Legacy of Saint Patrick
by Michael McHugh
from Great Light Publications
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
by James Cross Giblin
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
2003 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$11.99
Life and Death of Crazy Horse
by Russell Freedman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 7th-10th grade
1997 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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Life of George Washington
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$11.75
Life of J.E.B. Stuart
by Mary Williamson
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$11.75
Life of Washington
by Josephine Pollard
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$10.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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