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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215 Items found Print
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
from Geography Matters
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Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear
by Hans de Beer
Fir from Scholastic Inc.
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AIO Imagination Station Book #03
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Alexander the Great
by Andrew Langley
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All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #2
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All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.95
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
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America's Paul Revere
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Biography for 2nd-6th grade
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And the Word Came With Power
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
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Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
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Anne Frank's Story
by Carol Ann Lee
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Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
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Apprentice
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Archaeologists Dig For Clues
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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Balto and the Great Race
Totally True Adventures
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1st Printing from Random House Books for Young Readers
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Baseball Saved Us
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Book About Christopher Columbus
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Boy of Old Prague
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By the Dawn's Early Light
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Captive Treasure
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Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-3rd grade
1959 Caldecott Medal winner
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Charles Darwin - Coloring Book
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Children of the Dust Bowl
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1993 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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Step into Reading Level 4
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Adventures of Tintin
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Clearing Weather
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1929 Newbery Honor Book
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Colonial America
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Colonial Times 1600-1700
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Colonial Town: Williamsburg
by Bobbie Kalman
Revised from Crabtree Publishing
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Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
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from Dover Publications
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Coming to America
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Crossing Bok Chitto
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Daniel Boone
by Carol Greene
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Davy Crockett, Young Pioneer
by Laurence Santrey
from Troll Associates
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Days of the Knights
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by Christopher Maynard
from DK Publishing
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Dust for Dinner
by Ann Turner
from HarperCollins
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Earthquake!
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Egyptian Cinderella
by Shirley Climo & Ruth Heller
from HarperCollins
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Encounter
by Jane Yolen
1st edition from Voyager Paperbacks
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Escape North!
Step into Reading Level 4
by Monica Kulling
from Random House
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F is for Freedom
by Roni Schotter
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Famous Figures of Ancient Times
by Cathy Diez-Luckie
First Edition from Figures in Motion
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Famous Figures of the American Revolution
from Figures in Motion
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Finding the Titanic
by Robert D. Ballard
from Scholastic Inc.
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First Flight
DK Eyewitness Readers Level 4
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First Thanksgiving
Step into Reading Level 3
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First Thanksgiving
by Jean Craighead George
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Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$7.99
Fourth of July Story
by Alice Dalgliesh
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Freedom on the Menu
by Carole Boston Weatherford
Reprint from Puffin Books
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Gargoyles and Medieval Monsters - Coloring Book
by A. G. Smith
from Dover Publications
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George Washington's Mother
An All Aboard Reading Reader Level 3
by Jean Fritz
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Gilgamesh the King
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$8.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Glorious Flight
by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-Fiction/Picture Books for 1st-3rd grade
1984 Caldecott Medal winner
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Gods and Goddesses of Olympus
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
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$7.99
Going West!
Kalideoscope Kids Book
by Carol A. Johmann, Elizabeth J. Rieth
from Williamson Publishing Company
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Great Pyramid
Wonders of the World
by Elizabeth Mann
Reprint from Mikaya Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$14.95
Greek Myths
by Marcia Williams
from Walker Books
for 1st-3rd grade
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$8.99
Guide to Egypt
by Michael March
from Highlights for Children
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Hanna's Cold Winter
by Trish Marx & Barbara Knutson
from Purple House Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
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$11.95
Hannibal
by Jacob Abbott
from Canon Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Henry Ford
by Dina El Nabli
from HarperCollins
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Holling Clancy Holling's Stories from Many Lands
by Holling Clancy Holling
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
$14.99
How Many Days to America?
by Eve Bunting
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
How We Crossed the West
by Rosalyn Schanzer
Reprint from National Geographic
for 2nd-6th grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$7.95
If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
by Ellen Levine
Updated from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
If You Were There
by Kay Moore
from Scholastic Inc.
Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
If You Were There
by Kay Moore
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
If You Lived At The Time Of The Great San Francisco Earthquake
by Ellen Levine
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-4th grade
in Titanic & 20th Century Disasters (Location: HISW-20DIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
If You Lived in Colonial Times
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$4.00 (4 in stock)
If You Lived in the Alaska Territory
by Nancy Smiler Levinson
from Scholastic Inc.
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in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days
If You Were There
by Barbara Brenner, Jenny Williams (Ilustrator)
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
If You Sailed On the Mayflower in 1620
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pilgrims at Plymouth (Location: HISA-17PIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon
If You Were There
by Ellen Levine
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Egypt
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 17
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Near & Middle East (Location: HISMC-NME)
$10.99
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution
If You Were There
by Elizabeth Levy
from Scholastic Inc.
Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$7.99 $5.00 (2 in stock)
If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island
If You Were There
by Ellen Levine & Wayne Parmenter
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$6.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
In 1492
by Jean Marzollo
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
In Search of the Lost Colony
Outer Banks Animals Adventure Series
by Mary Maden
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in New World Colonization (Location: HISA-17NW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Industrial Revolution
by Carla Mooney
from Nomad Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$15.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
by Andrea Gianopoulos
1st edition from Capstone Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Jamestown
Adventures in Colonial America
by James Knight
from Beautiful Feet Books
Non-fiction for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Jamestown Colony (Location: HISA-17JA)
$6.95 $4.00 (1 in stock)
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