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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18 Penny Goose
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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1846 - Portrait of the Nation
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Abe Lincoln
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Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
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Across Five Aprils
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1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Adam of the Road
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Adam of the Road
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Art of Keeping Cool
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As Far as the Eye Can Reach
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Betty Greene
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
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Biography for 4th-7th grade
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A Young Royals Book
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Black Arrow
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
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Black Ships Before Troy
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Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
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Blazing West: The Journal of Augustus Pelletier
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Blue Willow
Puffin Newbery Library
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1941 Newbery Honor Book
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Bonanza Girl
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Bonanza Girl
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Bound for Oregon
by Jean Van Leeuwen
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$7.99
Bravest Dog Ever
Step Into Reading Level 3
by Natalie Standiford
from Random House
Animal Stories for 1st-3rd grade
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$5.99
Breadwinner, The
by Deborah Ellis
from Groundwood Books
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Brother Andrew
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Bud, Not Buddy
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from Laurel-Leaf Books
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Meryl Stevenson
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Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
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Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!
by Jean Fritz
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Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Bunyan Characters
by Alexander Whyte
from Baker Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
By the Great Horn Spoon!
by Sid Fleischman
from Little, Brown & Company
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
C. T. Studd
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Cabin Faced West
by Jean Fritz
from Puffin Books
Historical fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
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Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Simon Pulse
Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1936 Newbery Medal winner
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$7.99
Caddie Woodlawn's Family
by Carol Ryrie Brink
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
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Caleb's Story
by Patricia MacLachlan
from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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Calico Bush
by Rachel Field
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1932 Newbery Honor Book
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Captain Blood
Penguin Classics
by Rafael Sabatini
from Penguin Classics
Historical Romance for 7th-Adult
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$16.00
Captain John Smith
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
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$11.99
Cavalryman with Custer
by James Harvey Kidd
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Chang's Paper Pony
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Eleanor Coerr
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China Cry
by Nora Lam with Richard Schneider
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City of God
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translated by Henry Bettenson)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient/Medieval Theology for 11th-Adult
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$18.00
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
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by Henry David Thoreau
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$3.00
Civil War Paper Soldiers in Full Color
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from Dover Publications
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Civil War Stories
by Ambrose Bierce
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$5.00
Clarence Jones
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Colonial Fashions - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
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Coloring Book of Ancient Egypt
by Bellerophon Books
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in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$3.50 (2 in stock)
Columbus and the Renaissance Explorers
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
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$3.00 (3 in stock)
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00
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