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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1066: The Year of the Conquest
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20 Exciting Plays for Medieval History Classes
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America: From Gridlock to Deadlock
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Breath of Peace
Hawk and the Dove Series #7
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Penguin Classics
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Captain, My Captain
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
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1956 Newbery Medal winner
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
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Chance to Die
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Children of the Storm
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Churchill
by Paul Johnson
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Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
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Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
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Colonial Experience
A Basic History of the United States Volume 1
by Clarence B. Carson
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Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
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Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Penguin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
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Coronation of Glory
Reformation Trail Series #12
by Deborah Meroff
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Czar, The
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Darius, Artaxerxes, and Ahasuerus in the Bible
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Defender of the Faith
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 2
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Doctor Adrian
Reformation Trail Series #13
by Deborah Alcock
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Done and Dared in Old France
Huguenot Inheritance Series #7
by Deborah Alcock
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Doomed Queen Anne
A Young Royals Book
by Carolyn Meyer
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Driven into Exile
Huguenot Inheritance Series #5
by Charlotte Maria Tucker
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Crown & Covenant Series #1
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Eagle of the Ninth
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Elizabeth I
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All-of-a-Kind Family Series #5
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Gail Owens
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Endurance
by Alfred Lansing
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Escape
Huguenot Inheritance Series #1
by A. Van der Jagt
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Evidence Not Seen
by Darlene Deibler Rose
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Exploits of Xenophon
World Landmark #18
by Geoffrey Household, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
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Fair Margaret
by H. Rider Haggard
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Faithful Spy
by John Hendrix
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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False Coin, True Coin
by Lois Hoadley Dick
from Bob Jones University Press
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Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Simon and Schuster
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Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
1st edition from Rabbit Room Press
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$16.99
Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
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$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Flight into Spring
by Bianca Bradbury
from Bethlehem Books
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$8.50
For God and His People
by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne
from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 9th-12th grade
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$13.00
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 Bethlehem Books
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1934 Newbery Honor Book
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$14.95
Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
from Penguin Classics
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$17.00
George Washington's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster and edited by Rea Berg
from Beautiful Feet Books
History Reference/Biography for 7th-10th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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George Whitefield
by Arnold A. Dallimore
from Crossway Books
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$14.50
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
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God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
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Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
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Golden Age
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Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
by Laura Amy Schlitz
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2008 Newbery Medal Winner
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Gorgias
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
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Governor of England
by Marjorie Bowen
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Great Adventurers of the Twentieth Century
by Ron Tagliapietra
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Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
Reissue from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$16.95
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