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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166 Items found Print
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
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Anna and the King of Siam
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Arthur Erskine's Story
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Beat to Quarters
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1937 Newbery Honor Book
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Crushed Yet Conquering
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1930 Newbery Honor Book
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Defender of the Faith
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 2
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Doctor Adrian
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A Young Royals Book
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Earth is the Lord's
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by Paul L. Maier
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For God and the King
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 3
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Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
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Book of Books #1
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Good Shepherd
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by Penelope Wilcock
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Hereward the Wake
by Charles Kingsley
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by Howard Fast
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Horatio Hornblower Saga - Complete Collection
by C. S. Forester
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Hornblower and the Atropos
Hornblower Series #5
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Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower Series #3
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Hornblower Companion
by C. S. Forester
from Naval Institute Press
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Hornblower During the Crisis
Hornblower Series #4
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
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Hubert Ellerdale
Reformation Trail Series #01
by W. Oak Rhind
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I Serve
by Rosanne E. Lortz
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I Will Maintain
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 1
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Impossible Escape
by Steve Sheinkin
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Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
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by Sir Walter Scott
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Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
from Dover Publications
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Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
from International Collectors Library
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Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
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Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
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Ivanhoe
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott, edited by Graham Tulloch
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by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Easton Press
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Windermere Series 4
by Sir Walter Scott, illustrated by Milo Winter
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Windermere Series 1
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Windermere Series 2
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Windermere Series 3
by Sir Walter Scott, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
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James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories
by James Herriot
First Printing from St. Martin's Press
for 8th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Kenilworth
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott
from Penguin Classics
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Kitchen Boy
by Robert Alexander
Reprint from Penguin Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lady of Blossholme
by H. Rider Haggard
Centennial Edition from Great Light Publications
for 7th-12th grade
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Last Cavalier
by Alexandre Dumas
from Pegasus Books
Historical Romance for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Last Love
by Thomas B. Costain
from Unknown Publisher
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Last Plantagenets
A History of the Plantagenets Volume 4
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
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Les Miserables
Signet Classics
by Victor Hugo, translated by Lee Fahnestock & Norman MacAfee
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.99
Les Miserables
Modern Library
by Victor Hugo, translated by Julie Rose
from Modern Library
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$20.00
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Charles Wilbour
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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$42.00
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel F Hapgood
from Fall River Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Les Miserables
Modern Library
by Victor Hugo, translated by Norman Denny
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Lascelles Wraxall and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Lieutenant Hornblower
Hornblower Series #2
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower
by C. S. Forester (based on the works of), C. Northcote Parkinson
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Lord Hornblower
Hornblower Series #10
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from Little, Brown & Company
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Lord Hornblower
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Lysbeth
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
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Magnificent Century
A History of the Plantagenets Volume 2
by Thomas B. Costain
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Marsh King
by C. Walter Hodges
for 9th-Adult
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Mary, Bloody Mary
A Young Royals Book
by Carolyn Meyer
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Midshipman Bolitho
by Alexander Kent
from McBooks Press
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by Thomas B. Costain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
from Mysterious Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Morbid Taste for Bones
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
Reissue from Mysterious Press
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$14.99
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