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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Accidental Voyage
Mr. Pipes Series #4
by Doug Bond
from P&R Publishing
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
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Andie's Moon
Historical House: 1969
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Anna and the King (adapted)
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Bat 6
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Beat to Quarters
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Beyond the Sacred Page
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Monroe Family Chronicles #1
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Bold Journey
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Boy and the Samurai
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Boy in the Alamo
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Boy of Old Prague
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Brethren
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Bud, Not Buddy
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Carolina's Courage
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
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1995 Newbery Honor Book
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Cecily's Portrait
Historical House: 1895
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Charlotte Sometimes
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Children's Homer
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Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
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Classic Myths to Read Aloud
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
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by Charles Boardman Hawes
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Defender of the Faith
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 2
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
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Deirdre
by David Guard; illustrated by Gretchen Guard
2nd edition from Celestial Arts
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Dispelling the Tyranny
Struggle for Freedom Series #2
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
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Down Ryton Water
by E.R. Gaggin
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1942 Newbery Honor
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Dragon and the Raven
by G. A. Henty
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Earthquake!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
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Earthquake!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
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Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #5
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Gail Owens
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 6th-9th grade
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Endurance
by Alfred Lansing
from Tyndale House
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F is for Freedom
by Roni Schotter
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Father's Promise
by Donna Hess
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Favorite Greek Myths
by Bob Blaisdell
from Dover Publications
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Fighting Ground
by Avi
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Finding Providence
An I Can Read Chapter Book
by Avi
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Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
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Flying Colours
Hornblower Series #8
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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For God and the King
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 3
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
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Forgotten Daughter
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
from American Home-School Publishing
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1934 Newbery Honor Book
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Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
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in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
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Gilgamesh the King
by Ludmila Zeman
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 1st-4th grade
$8.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Glimpses of Truth
Book of Books #1
by Jack Cavanaugh
from Zondervan
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
God King
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Joanne Williamson
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
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Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
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Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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Gold Rush Dogs
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, Jane G. Haigh
from Alaska Northwest Books
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Fleece
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
1922 Newbery Honor Book
$10.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Great and Terrible Quest
by Margaret Lovett
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
Historical Fiction for 6th-8th grade
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Great Wheel
by Robert Lawson
from Walker and Company
Realistic fiction for 4th-8th grade
1958 Newbery Honor Book
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Guests
by Michael Dorris
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.49 (1 in stock)
Gytha's Message
Emma Leslie Church History Series
by Emma Leslie
from Salem Ridge Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day
by Scott O'Dell
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
from Herald Press
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Hiroshima
by Laurence Yep
from Scholastic Inc.
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Hitch
by Jeanette Ingold
from Harcourt
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
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Hornblower and the Atropos
Hornblower Series #5
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 8th-Adult
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$16.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower Series #3
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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$17.99 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Hornblower During the Crisis
Hornblower Series #4
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 8th-Adult
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Hostage Lands
by Doug Bond
from P&R Publishing
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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House Divided
Young Founders 1863
by Elizabeth Massie
from Tor Classic
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
I Serve
by Rosanne E. Lortz
from Anno Domini
Historical Fiction for 7th-Adult
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$12.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
I Will Maintain
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 1
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$15.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Ides of April
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Mary Ray
from Bethlehem Books
for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
In Search of Honor
by Donna Hess
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$8.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
In Search of the Lost Colony
Outer Banks Animals Adventure Series
by Mary Maden
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in New World Colonization (Location: HISA-17NW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
from Bookshelf Central
for 6th-10th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Ivan and the American Journey
by Myrna Grant
from Christian Focus Publications
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Ivan and the Moscow Circus
by Myrna Grant
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Jazz Man
by Mary Hays Weik
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Jericho's Journey
by G. Clifton Wisler
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Johnny Appleseed
from Puffin Books
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Journey West on the Oregon Trail
by Cecile Alyce Nolan
from Rain Dance Publishing
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Katherine Parr
by Brandon G. Withrow
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Biography for 10th-Adult
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Keeping Score
by Linda Sue Park
from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-9th grade
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$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
King's Arrow
Crown & Covenant Series #2
by Doug Bond & Matthew Bird
from P&R Publishing
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
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$14.99 $8.00 (2 in stock)
Kirsten's Cook Book
American Girl
by Jodi Evert
from Scholastic Inc.
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$2.40 (1 in stock)
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