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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Abe Lincoln
Landmark Series
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Across Five Aprils
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Adventures of Ulysses
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American Made: The Colonial Child of 1740
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And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
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Art of Keeping Cool
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Before the Gold Rush
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Ben and Me
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Bud, Not Buddy
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2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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by Anne Frank
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Dragonwings
Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
by Laurence Yep
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Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
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Earthquake at Dawn
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Era Of Colonization & Settlement 1600-1760's
by Kathy Sammis
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Era of Revolution & Nation Forming 1760's-1800's
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Escape From Warsaw
by Ian Serraillier, illustrated by Irwin Hoffman
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Eyes of the Emperor
by Graham Salisbury
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Farewell to Manzanar
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Fireflies in the Dark
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For Freedom
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Geoffrey Chaucer of England
by Marchette Chute
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George Washington's Breakfast
by Jean Fritz
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Biography for 1st-4th grade
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George Washington, Spymaster
by Thomas B. Allen
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Gettysburg
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Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
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Golden Age
by Kenneth Grahame
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Good Master
Puffin Newbery Library
by Kate Seredy
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1936 Newbery Honor Book
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Good Night, Mr. Tom
by Michelle Magorian
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Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
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Guns for General Washington
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Harry Houdini: Master of Magic
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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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House of Dies Drear
by Virginia Hamilton
Reissue from Aladdin Paperbacks
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House on Walenska Street
by Charlotte Herman
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Imitation of Christ
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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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Biography for 3rd-4th grade
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In Their Own Words: Lewis and Clark
by George Sullivan
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Indian Captive
by Lois Lenski
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Historical Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
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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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Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express
by Kristiana Gregory
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Josefina Story Quilt
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Eleanor Coerr
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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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Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
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Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
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King's Fifth
by Scott O'Dell
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La Vita Nuova
by Dante Alighieri
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Laura
by Donald Zochert
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Le Morte d'Arthur
Signet Classics
by Sir Thomas Mallory
from Random House
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Libraries in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
from Yale University Press
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$6.50 (2 in stock)
Lights In Lisuland
CF4Kids Trail Blazers
by Irene Howat
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Little Farm in the Ozarks
Rocky Ridge Years Book 2
by Roger Lea MacBride
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (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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$4.99 $2.50 (3 in stock)
Long Way Westward
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$4.99 $2.50 (3 in stock)
Lost Star
by Patricia Lauber
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$2.00 (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)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Magic Tree House #38 (Merlin Mission #10) - Fact Tracker
companion to Merlin Mission #10 - Monday with a Mad Genius
by Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Pope Boyce
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 2nd-6th grade
in Magic Tree House (Location: SER-MTH)
$3.50 (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)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Making of George Washington
by William H. Wilbur
2nd edition from Unknown Publisher
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Mary, Bloody Mary
A Young Royals Book
by Carolyn Meyer
from Harcourt
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $4.50 (2 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)
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