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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283 Items found Print
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Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
Dover Thrift Editions
by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
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$2.00
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
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Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
from Atlantic Monthly Press
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Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt
by Theodore Roosevelt
from National Geographic
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Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
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Alfred the Great
by Asser
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Amazing Grace
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$15.99
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
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$8.50 (2 in stock)
Anne Bradstreet
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Anne Bradstreet
Christian Renegades Series
by Doug Wilson
3rd edition from Canon Press
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$16.95
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
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by Benjamin Franklin
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World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
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Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
from International Collectors Library
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Autobiography of George Muller
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B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
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Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
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$18.99
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
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Becoming Mrs. Lewis
by Patti Callahan
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Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings
Signet Classics
by Benjamin Franklin
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$5.95
Betty Before X
by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
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Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
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Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
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Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire
by James Headlam
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$8.99
Bombs and Blessings
by Retha Hazel Eldridge
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
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Bonhoeffer
by Eric Metaxas, foreword by Timothy J. Keller
Revised and Updated from Thomas Nelson Publishers
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$24.99
Book of Discovery
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
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$20.95
Born to Run
by Christopher McDougall
from Vintage Books
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Brendan Voyage
Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
from Modern Library
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$19.00
Bridge to the Sun
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Bruchko
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from Charisma House
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$16.99
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
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Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle
by Bruce Olson
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C. S. Lewis: A Life
by Alister McGrath
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
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Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
by George Grant
from Cumberland House
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
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Chance to Die
by Elisabeth Elliot
from Revell Publishing
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Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
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China Cry
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from Thomas Nelson Publishers
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Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
from Greenhaven Press
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Churchill
by Paul Johnson
Reprint from Penguin Putnam
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Co. Aytch
by Sam Watkins
from Touchstone
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Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Maus
by Art Spiegelman
from Pantheon Books
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Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (introduction & translation by R.S. Pine-Coffin)
from Penguin Classics
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in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$10.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by John K. Ryan)
from Image
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$17.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Maria Boulding)
from Vintage Classics
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$14.95
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Garry Wills)
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Sarah Ruden)
from Modern Library
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in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Thomas Williams)
from Hackett Publishing Company
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Constantine the Great
by Michael Grant
from History Book Club
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Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
by Hilmar Von Campe
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Diary of a Napoleanic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter
from Penguin Putnam
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from International Collectors Library
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from Anchor Books
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from Bantam Books
Biography for 7th-Adult
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$7.99
Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
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$22.00
Discovery of Guiana
by Walter Raleigh
from Living Book Press
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$6.99
Early Church
by George Hodges
from Yesterday's Classics
for 8th-12th grade
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$13.95
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Earth is the Lord's
by Taylor Caldwell
from Literary Guild of America
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
from St. Martin's Press
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$17.50
Edwardian Lady
by Ina Taylor
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Elizabeth I
by Jacob Abbott, updated for the present day reader by Knox Merkle
from Canon Press
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$12.00
Endurance
by Alfred Lansing
from Tyndale House
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$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Endurance
by Caroline Alexander
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$12.00 (2 in stock)
Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 6th-12th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Evidence Not Seen
by Darlene Deibler Rose
from HarperCollins
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$16.99
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
for 9th-Adult
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Faithful Spy
by John Hendrix
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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$18.99
Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
from Scholastic Inc.
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.99
First Voyage to America
by Christopher Columbus
from Dover Publications
Historical Primary Sources for 10th-Adult
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$9.95
For God and His People
by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne
from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 9th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.00
Forgotten Founding Father
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-12th grade
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$16.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
from Penguin Classics
Historical Primary Sources for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$17.00
Francis Schaeffer
by Bruce Little, ed.
from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
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$12.99
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya
by Ruth Tucker
2nd edition from Zondervan
History of missions for 11th-Adult
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$32.99 $14.00 (3 in stock)
George MacDonald
by Michael R Phillips
Illustrated Edition from Bethany House
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
George MacDonald
by Michael R Phillips
from Bethany House
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
George Whitefield
by Arnold A. Dallimore
from Crossway Books
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$14.50
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
from Abingdon Press
for 9th-Adult
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Give Me Liberty
Leaders in Action Series
by David Vaughan
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$17.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman
by Gladys Aylward
from Moody Press
for 7th-Adult
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$9.99
Glimpses of Truth
Book of Books #1
by Jack Cavanaugh
from Zondervan
for 7th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
Reprint from Harper Perennial
for 9th-Adult
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$17.99
God's Samurai
by Gordon Prange, with Donald Goldstein & Katherine Dillon
from Potomoc Books
for 10th-Adult
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$21.95
God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
from Chosen Books
Biography for 7th-Adult
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$16.99
Governor of England
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 9th-12th grade
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$17.95 $10.00 (3 in stock)
Great Adventurers of the Twentieth Century
by Ron Tagliapietra
from Bob Jones University Press
Biography Anthologies for 8th-Adult
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$12.95
Great Adventures That Changed Our World
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in Modern History (Location: HISW-MOD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Lion of God
by Taylor Caldwell
Book Club from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greater Journey
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greek Lives
by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield
1st Reissue from Oxford University
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.95
Greek Treasure
by Irving Stone
Book Club from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hannibal
Makers of History Series
by Jacob Abbott
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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