History in His Hands: Volume One Ancient History, A Biblical Perspective and Volume Two, New Testament, Early Church, and Middle Ages History

by Joyce Herzog

JoyceHerzog.com, Inc.

History is a wonderful vehicle for helping children begin to develop a Biblical Christian worldview, and History in His Hands is purposely designed to do just that. Herzog retells ancient history in the Read Aloud Volume One, beginning with creation and continuing up to the Roman occupation of Israel just before the arrival of the Messiah. Much of this is a retelling of the Bible for young children (kindergarten through about second grade level), emphasizing the character of God since this is the foundation for our judgments of right and wrong. As children begin to develop a Christian worldview, they can then better understand the story as it branches out to other peoples. You can continue, then, to read about the Greeks, the Chinese, Hindus, and other religious, ethnic, and political groups now that you have a context for understanding.

You can create a timeline to accompany your reading and let that be the extent of the study. Or, after you finish reading, you can go back and do some real studying by using the Study Guides. Herzog suggests two study options: chronological or interest-directed study.

You need your primary resource book which will be The Children’s Bible (published by Western Publishing Company). She also recommends that you use three other tools: Halley’s Bible Handbook, What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers, and 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. She says, “You can complete your study using only the above books appropriate for the age level you are working with and the encyclopedia for the secular history.” But there are many wonderful books available to enrich each topic. These are listed in the Resource List in the Study Guide.

A study plan, laid out in chronological order, is designed to highlight people, events and topics, rather than cover the Old Testament in its entirety. Each section has a rough lesson plan which lists Scripture to be read and discussion suggestions. Other elements vary from lesson to lesson but include such things as correlation with other reading, craft and/or activity ideas. Again, the emphasis throughout is on developing worldview understanding, albeit at introductory levels.

There are charts (with instructions for how they are to be completed) to accompany some of the lessons. Charts filled in with the appropriate information are included as a sort of answer key.

Study of various topics can be expanded with suggested books or others you might choose. The study guides and charts were designed to cover a wide age span with questions to talk about or research plus Biblical principles to apply to life. Some lesson preparation is required once you move beyond the actual “history” reading, but the amount of time required will depend upon how far you want to develop related activities and reading. The basic volume can be used alone, but I recommend you also use the Study Guide and extra resources to get the most out of this valuable study.

Note: History in His Hands Volume One should also work well with learning-handicapped children who might be beyond second grade level but who have not grasped the big picture of history.

The second volume tries to cover a huge amount of territory: the New Testament era and the early Church up through the Middle Ages. While it briefly covers a broad range of historical highlights, most emphasis is upon church history from a Protestant perspective. The format is similar to that of the first volume, although it is clearly aimed at an older audience. Many of the ideas brought out in volume two would be very appropriate for high school research and discussion.