History

History CurriculumHistory Resources

As with most things, C.S. Lewis had a unique view of history. For him, the really important bits were the stories—he makes a distinction between actual historical realities and the idealized versions of them handed down which make heroes and villains of mere men and women. It's not that the stories are completely false, but their value is for character-building, not as factual data.

The tales of George Washington's bravery in battle, coolness under pressure, rigorous truthfulness, and unflagging piety may accurately preserve the essence of his temperament and nobility, but not all of them are strictly historical. The point of these stories isn't to impart facts, however, it's to offer an example of goodness for the rest of us to emulate.

Getting the facts right is still important, though. As Christians, we can't afford to have a false understanding of "the old days." Mankind is fallen, and the story of his sojourn on Earth is filled with war, suffering, disease, unfaithfulness, pride and envy; a study of history that omits those elements is both false and useless. False, because it is incomplete, and useless, because it tells us nothing of the human condition or our current situation.

It's a bit of a mystery to us why non-Christians are motivated to study the past. For believers, the end goal isn't just acquisition of facts about events and cultures, it's the instillation of a thoroughly Christian worldview, an understanding of the course of the human endeavour as decreed and guided by God Himself.

The story of Jesus Christ is central. It is the only history story that fulfills the character-building element Lewis looked for, while remaining absolutely true in every detail. Man is fallen and he does struggle against God, but through Christ there is hope of redemption, a chance to connect heaven and earth through the Atonement. Christ is the ultimate example of God's providence.

In the Reformed tradition, God's sovereignty is a very big deal. According to the doctrine of divine decree, God has ordered all things that were, are and will come to be for His own good pleasure and glory. His hand is thus present everywhere, in the privatest private life and the most public and widespread crisis. God is in control, providentially guiding nations, men, and the entire cosmos.

This very doctrine is perhaps what best explains the humanist's interest in history (whether he be atheist, agnostic, pagan). Man's natural bent is to make himself the hero of the story, to show how people can sway the trajectory of all things. God's version is quite different, and the two are naturally in conflict. Resolution may only be found in Christ.

For, while God decrees and guides all things, He has also (paradoxically) decreed man's free will and personal responsibility. Men do change the course of kingdoms, but it is only through God's agency. A proper Christian study of history takes both truths into account, and tells the stories of good guys and bad guys through the light of everything God's Word says about human nature and divine control.

We encourage you to take great comfort and joy in your study of history. Read books, watch movies (carefully noting that a lot of the story is likely to be inaccurate in detail), go on fieldtrips to forts and battlefields and birthplaces. Most of all, talk about these things. The end goal, after all, isn't to know a bunch of trivia, but to understand what God has done and continues to do.

No one knows for sure what the end of history will look like, except that every knee in heaven and on earth will bow to the returned glorious Christ, who comes to judge the living and the dead. What we believe about Him will determine whether that culmination will be filled with joy or loathing (everyone will be terrified). He is the author of history, and its centerpiece; honor Him in your study of it.

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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1, 2, 3, Go!
by Huy Voun Lee
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An I Can Read Book Level 3
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5,000-Year-Old Puzzle
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1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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7 Continents: Africa
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A Christmas Carol Audio Drama - 2 CD set
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A is for Abigail
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ABC Book of Early Americana - Coloring Book
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2012 Dover from Dover Publications
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Above the Trenches
by Nathan Hale
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Abraham Lincoln
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75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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Abraham Lincoln & His Family - Paper Dolls
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Abraham Lincoln (hardcover)
by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire; edited by Rea Berg
75th Anniversary from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 1st-6th grade
1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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Abraham Lincoln - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Road Trip: National Parks
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Adam of the Road
by Elizabeth Janet Gray, illustrated by Robert Lawson
1962 Printing from Viking Press
for 3rd-5th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Adam of the Road
Puffin Modern Classics
by Elizabeth Gray
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1943 Newbery Medal winner
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Adventures of Hercules - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
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Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
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by Opal Wheeler
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Revised from Kansas Heritage Center
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Aesop's Fables
Puffin Classics
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Aircraft - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
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Airplanes of the Second World War - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Airplanes of World War I - Coloring Book
by Carlo Demand
from Dover Publications
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Akavak
by James Houston
from Harcourt, Brace & World
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
Puffin Classics
by N.J. Dawood, illustrated by William Harvey
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales for 2nd-6th grade
$7.99
Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$14.99
Alaskan Wildlife - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
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$3.99
Albert Einstein: Young Thinker
by Marie Hammontree
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Alexander Hamilton - Coloring Book
by Steven James Petruccio
Clr Csm from Dover Publications
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$5.99
Alexander the Great
by Andrew Langley
Reissue from Oxford University
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Alexander the Great
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from Marshall Cavendish Education
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$19.99
Alice Waters Cooks Up a Food Revolution
by Diane Stanley
from Simon and Schuster
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All About Niagara Falls
by Linda Granfield
from Morrow Junior Books
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All the Children of the World
by Karen Mezek Leimert
First Edition from Nelsonword Publishing Group
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
All-of-a-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Yearling
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$7.99
All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Follett
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Follett
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #2
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.95
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.95
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor; illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Follett Publishing Co.
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$34.00 (1 in stock)
Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99 $5.00 (4 in stock)
Alvin Ailey
by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
from Hyperion Books for Children
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Always Inventing
by Tom L. Matthews
from National Geographic
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$7.99
Always Room for One More
by Sorche Nic Leodhas
from Henry Holt and Company
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1966 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Non-Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$7.99
Amazing Pop-Up Pull-Out Space Shuttle
by David Hawcock
from DK Publishing
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart: Young Aviator
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Beatrice Gormley
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99
Amelia to Zora
1st edition from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$7.95
America At War: Korean War
by John Perritano
from Scholastic Inc.
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in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
from Answers in Genesis
for 3rd-8th grade
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$29.00 (1 in stock)
America In Korean War
by KidCaps
from BookCaps
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
for 1st-4th grade
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
America in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
from Heinemann-Raintree
for 2nd-5th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
from Heinemann-Raintree
for 2nd-5th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America's First Ladies - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Leslie Franz
Revised Edition from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$5.99
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
America's Story 1
by Angela O'Dell
1st edition from Master Books
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$34.39 $28.00 (2 in stock)
America's Story 1 - Teacher Guide
by Angela O'Dell
from Master Books
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$26.39 $20.00 (2 in stock)
America's Story 2
by Angela O'Dell
from Master Books
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in Master Books History (Location: HISCUR-MB)
$34.39
America's Story 2 - Teacher Guide
by Angela O'Dell
from Master Books
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$26.39
America's Struggle to Become a Nation
by Rick & Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
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in Master Books History (Location: HISCUR-MB)
$24.50 (2 in stock)
American Art Bingo Volume I
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$16.96
American Art History I - Bundle
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
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by Kristin Draeger
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American Art History Volume I
by Kristin Draeger
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in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$33.96
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American Family of the Civil War Era - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
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$11.99
American Heroes - Coloring Book
by Steven James Petruccio
from Dover Publications
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in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$4.99
American History for Young Students III
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-6th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
$29.95
American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
from Bob Jones University Press
Poetry for 3rd-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$11.00
American History Stories Volume 1
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
American History Stories Volume 2
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
American History Stories Volume 3
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
American History Stories Volume 4
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
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