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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1846 - Portrait of the Nation
by Smithsonian Institute
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Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
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1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Adventures of Ulysses
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After the Dancing Days
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Ancient Egypt
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And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
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Basher Five-Two
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Battle of Gettysburg
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Before the Gold Rush
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Landmark Series
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Betsy Ross: Designer of our Flag
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Bud, Not Buddy
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Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History
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Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
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1976 Newbery Honor Book
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An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Era Of Colonization & Settlement 1600-1760's
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Escape From Warsaw
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Esperanza Rising
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Extraordinary Life of Katherine Johnson
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Extraordinary Life of Rosa Parks
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Eyes of the Emperor
by Graham Salisbury
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Fireflies in the Dark
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
by Kathleen Kudlinski, illustrated by Meryl Henderson
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Freedom Train
by Dorothy Sterling
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George Washington
Childhood of Famous Americans / History's All-Stars
by Augusta Stevenson
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George Washington's Breakfast
by Jean Fritz
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Ghost in the Tokaido Inn
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Gladys Aylward
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
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Good Master
Puffin Newbery Library
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1936 Newbery Honor Book
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Good Night, Mr. Tom
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Goodbye, Vietnam
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Grandma Moses
Women of Our Time
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Guns for General Washington
by Seymour Reit
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Harry Houdini: Master of Magic
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
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Heroes & Monsters Of Greek Myth
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Hidden
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Hiroshima
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Historical Non-Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors
by Terry Deary & Neil Tonge, illustrated by Martin Brown
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Horrible Histories: Vile Victorians
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House of Dies Drear
by Virginia Hamilton
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In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
by Bette Bao Lord
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Immigration for 2nd-6th grade
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In Their Own Words: Abraham Lincoln
In Their Own Words
by George Sullivan
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In Their Own Words: Pocahontas
by George Sullivan
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Invincible Louisa
by Cornelia Meigs
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Ivan and the Informer
by Myrna Grant
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Ivan and the Secret in the Suitcase
by Myrna Grant
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Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes
from Yearling
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 3rd-10th grade
1944 Newbery Medal winner
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Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes
Reprint from Laurel-Leaf Books
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
1944 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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Josefina Story Quilt
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Eleanor Coerr
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Journey to America
Journey to America Saga #1
by Sonia Levitin
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Kidnapped Prince
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King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Puffin Classics
by Roger Green
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King George: What Was His Problem?
by Steve Sheinkin, illustrated by Tim Robinson
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La Vita Nuova
by Dante Alighieri
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Land I Lost
by Quang Nhuong Huynh
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Memoir for 4th-6th grade
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Laura
by Donald Zochert
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Les Miserables
Signet Classics
by Victor Hugo
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Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
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Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt
by C. Coco De Young
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Historical fiction for 3rd-8th grade
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Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
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Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$25.60 (1 in stock)
Libraries in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
from Yale University Press
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Lion to Guard Us
by Clyde Robert Bulla
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-6th grade
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Little Farm in the Ozarks
Rocky Ridge Years Book 2
by Roger Lea MacBride
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Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.40 (1 in stock)
Long Way to a New Land
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$4.24 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Long Way Westward
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.24 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Magic Tree House #03 - Research Guide
by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca
from Random House
for 3rd-5th grade
in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Magic Tree House #16 - Research Guide / Fact Tracker
by Mary Pope Osborne
from Random House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Magic Tree House #44 (Merlin Mission #16) - Fact Tracker
Magic Tree House
by Mary Pope Osborne & Natalie Pope Boyce
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Making of George Washington
by William H. Wilbur
2nd edition from Unknown Publisher
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
by Eloise J. McGraw
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.64 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Martyr of the Catacombs
by Anonymous Christian
from Kregel Publications
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Morality Tales (Location: FIC-WH05)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Matchlock Gun
by Walter Edmonds
from PaperStar Books
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
1942 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.64 $3.60 (3 in stock)
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