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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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abraham Lincoln
Heroes of History
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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Accidental Voyage
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by Doug Bond
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by Jim Murphy
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Alexander the Great
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by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
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by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Mary Stevens
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Along Came Galileo
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America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
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Art in History
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Apple and the Arrow
by Conrad & Mary Buff
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1952 Newbery Honor Book
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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
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Augustine Came to Kent
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Avion My Uncle Flew
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Beggars' Bible
by Louise Vernon
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Struggle for Freedom Series #3
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Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin
Heroes of History
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Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
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Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Black Fox of Lorne
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
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1992 Odyssey Classics edition from Clarion Books
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Monroe Family Chronicles #1
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Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
by Elisa Carbone
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
from Sandpiper Books
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Book of the Ancient Greeks
by Dorothy Mills
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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$20.10
Book of the Ancient Greeks - Student Guide
by Matthew Anderson
from Memoria Press
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Book of the Ancient Romans
by Dorothy Mills
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Book of the Ancient World
by Dorothy Mills
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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Book of the Ancient World - Teacher Guide
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from Memoria Press
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Boris
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
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Boy of the Pyramids
by Ruth Fosdick Jones
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Boy on the Wooden Box
by Leon Leyson
Reprint from Atheneum
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Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
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Boys' War
by Jim Murphy
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Brady
by Jean Fritz
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Breaking Stalin's Nose
by Eugene Yelchin
from Square Fish Publishing
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2012 Newbery Honor Book
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Bronze Bow
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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Brother's Keeper
by Julie Lee
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
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2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
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Canadian Summer
Mitchells Series #2
by Hilda Van Stockum
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Candy Bomber
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Captain's Dog
by Roland Smith
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Carolina's Courage
by Elizabeth Yates
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Carpenter of Zerbst
by P. de Zeeuw
from Inheritance Publications
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Castle
by David Macaulay
from Graphia
Architecture for 4th-8th grade
1978 Caldecott Honor Book
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Castle Diary
by Richard Platt
from Candlewick Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Cathedral
by David Macaulay
from Houghton Mifflin
Architecture for 4th-8th grade
1974 Caldecott Honor Book
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1995 Newbery Honor Book
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1995 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Charles Darwin - Coloring Book
by John Green
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
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$3.99
Chasing Space for Young Readers
by Leland Melvin
from Amistad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$7.99
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99
Children of the Great Depression
by Russell Freedman
from Sandpiper Books
for 4th-6th grade
2006 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$10.99
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
Sowers Series
by Bennie Rhodes
from Mott Media
for 4th-6th grade
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$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Chu Ju's House
by Gloria Whelan
Reprint from HarperCollins
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in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
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Cigars of the Pharaoh
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
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$13.99
City
by David Macaulay
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$14.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Civil War Days
American Kids in History
by David C. King
1st edition from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-6th Grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$16.95 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Civil War for Kids
by Janis Herbert
from Chicago Review Press
Activity Guide for 4th-7th grade
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$16.95
Clara Barton
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Clearing Weather
by Cornelia Meigs
Repint from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
1929 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Wars
America at War Series
by Alden Carter
from Grolier Publishing
Historical Non-fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$6.95
Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$4.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Coming Evil
by Vivian Vande Velde
from Sandpiper Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$13.95
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun
by Rhoda Blumberg
from HarperCollins
Historical Non-Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1986 Newbery Honor Book
in Japan (Location: HISMC-JAP)
$9.99 $7.00 (2 in stock)
Coolies
by Yin, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet
from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
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$7.99
Copper-Toed Boots
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Wayne State University
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$18.95
Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Daughters of the Faith (Location: SER-DAU)
$8.99
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
by Avi
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 4th-8th grade
2003 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
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