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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18 Penny Goose
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Adam of the Road
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And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Step Into Reading Level 3
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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1936 Newbery Medal winner
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George Washington's Breakfast
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Going West
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In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
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In Their Own Words: Abraham Lincoln
In Their Own Words
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Ivan and the Daring Escape
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Ivan and the Secret in the Suitcase
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Josefina Story Quilt
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Justin Morgan Had a Horse
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis
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1946 Newbery Honor Book
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King Tut - Coloring Book
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Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt
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Letters from Rifka
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Lights In Lisuland
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Lion to Guard Us
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Little House - Softcover Boxed Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
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$79.91
Long Way to a New Land
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
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Long Way Westward
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
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Magic Tree House #16 - Research Guide / Fact Tracker
by Mary Pope Osborne
from Random House
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Magic Tree House #38 (Merlin Mission #10) - Fact Tracker
companion to Merlin Mission #10 - Monday with a Mad Genius
by Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Pope Boyce
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 2nd-6th grade
in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Magic Tree House #44 (Merlin Mission #16) - Fact Tracker
Magic Tree House
by Mary Pope Osborne & Natalie Pope Boyce
from Scholastic Inc.
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in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Marie Antoinette - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
Mark Twain: Young Writer
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Mariam E. Mason
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Young Man with a Dream
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Dharathula H. Millender
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Matchlock Gun
by Walter Edmonds
from PaperStar Books
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
1942 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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Meet Abraham Lincoln
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by Barbara Cary
from Random House
Biography for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.99
Meet Christopher Columbus
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by James de Kay
from Random House
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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Meet George Washington
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by Joan Heilbroner
from Random House
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Meet George Washington
by Joan Heilbroner
First Scholastic Printing 2001 from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Minstrel in the Tower
by Gloria Skurzynski
from Random House
Historical Fiction for 1st-4th grade
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$5.99
Molly Pitcher: Young Patriot
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Molly's Pilgrim
A Bantam First Skylark
by Barbara Cohen, illustrated by Daniel Mark Duffy
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Mr. Popper's Penguins
by Richard & Florence Atwater, illustrated by Jim Madsen
from Little, Brown & Company
Humorous Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1939 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Mr. Popper's Penguins
by Richard & Florence Atwater, illustrated by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
Humorous Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1939 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Mr. Revere and I
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
Humor/historical fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
Mr. Revere and I
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
Humor/historical fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Neil Armstrong: Young Flyer
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Montrew Dunham
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series #4
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
One Thousand Paper Cranes
by Takayuki Ishii
2001 Printing from Laurel-Leaf Books
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Ted Rand
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American Poetry for 2nd-6th grade
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Paul Revere: Boston Patriot
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Augusta Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Pocahontas and the Strangers
by Clyde Robert Bulla
from Scholastic Inc.
Biographies for 3rd-5th grade
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Pompeii
Step Into Reading Level 4
by Edith Kunhardt & Michael Eagle
from Random House
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Prairie School
An I Can Read Book Level 4
by Avi
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$4.99
Road to Agra
by Aimee Sommerfelt, illustrated by Ulf Aas
from Scholastic Book Services
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Robert E. Lee: Young Confederate
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Helen Albee Monsell
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Sacagawea: American Pathfinder
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Meryl Henderson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
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