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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Anna and the King (adapted)
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Art of Keeping Cool
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2001 Scott O'Dell Award
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Arthur Erskine's Story
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Atarax the Wolf Tells: Greek Myths
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Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Baseball Saved Us
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Beat to Quarters
Hornblower Series #6
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Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
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Beggar's King
by Howard C. Emmons
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Beggars' Bible
by Louise Vernon
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Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Beggars' Victory
Struggle for Freedom Series #3
by Piet Prins
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Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant
by Patricia Beatty
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Behind Rebel Lines
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
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Ben and Me
by Robert Lawson
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Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
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Ben-Hur
Signet Classics
by Lew Wallace
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Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$6.39
Beorn the Proud
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Madeleine Polland
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Beowulf the Warrior
by Ian Serraillier
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Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 4th-8th grade
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Beric the Briton - MP3 CD
by Jim Hodges
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Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$14.00
Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$21.99
Best Bad Thing
by Yoshiko Uchida
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Betrayer's Fortune
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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$8.99
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15th Printing from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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Betsy and the Emperor
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Betty Before X
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Between the Forest and the Hills
Bethlehem Books Adventure Library
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Humorous Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
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$9.50
Beware, Princess Elizabeth
A Young Royals Book
by Carolyn Meyer
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Beyond the Desert Gate
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Mary Ray
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$13.95
Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
by Jack Cavanaugh
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Bible Smuggler
by Louise Vernon
from Herald Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Big John's Secret
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$14.95
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