One of my biggest struggles as an adult has been my jumbled mess of a mind when it comes to history. I admit, I can be nerdy at times. I do love learning, especially when I can put together the history recorded in the Bible and the history recorded in secular sources. But alas, this has always, always been a struggle for me. I need a big picture. You can’t just tell me facts and dates because it becomes an history omelet in my brain. I need to see it. So I suppose you can already guess what I think of the Amazing Bible Timeline. lol
As a Christ follower, I do not believe it is possible to understand history without the entirety of it being weighed all together at the same time.
Like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece is needed to get the whole picture. The Amazing Bible Timeline provides just that – a full, at-a-glance picture of the history of our world. It’s neat to just sit and stare at this thing. I could spend a long long time just pouring over all the details, dates and small quotes from various sources. But my favorite way to use this chart really breaks it down into manageable bits.
Let’s say we’re studying the Reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin. First we check the index along the bottom of the timeline for both names. We find them listed and the centuries in which to look for their names. (This is explained on the chart itself in better detail.) Once we locate the men on the timeline, I point out the other events and peoples noted in the same time frame. Oftentimes, these are people and places we’ve already studied at least a little bit. We can note the peoples just before and after these men as well and, for the kids (and myself), another piece of the puzzle is fitted in their brains. History becomes knit together as it should be.
I find this so helpful for different reasons when studying ancient history and modern history. When studying ancient history, it helps to combine the history recorded in the Bible with history recorded in secular materials. This is so important but usually never dealt with by the Christian community. When studying modern history, I find this process helpful in keeping up with so much happening at once. Ancient history presents a small amount of history in long periods of time (and in scattered sources). Modern history presents large amount of history in very short time spans. The timeline is an essential tool for studying both.
All the material presented in the Amazing Bible Timeline is presented in an informational manner – not a doctrinal manner. The gray areas of history are dealt with in a most conservative way while keeping the integrity of the whole into account. For myself, the biggest ‘discrepancy’ I see with my own personal convictions is the section devoted to end times. Fortunately, this is obviously a small section of the timeline and poses no real ‘threat’ in my opinion. When our theology differs, no matter what material we are studying, our family discusses the topics and strengthens our own faith in the process. I find no real harm in the eschatological differences here.
So, let me give you some details about this product. The color-coded chart is 37” x 45”. The color coding helps to track families, nations, and events more easily. For $27.97 you get one chart printed on cardstock with a scuff coat finish, interactive downloadable maps of the Holy Land and a downloadable version of the wall chart.
And right now, there’s a sale going on at the Amazing Bible Timeline website – buy two for just $49.97. This would be a great gift for any Christian family, homeschoolers or not.
I may have to get one for my dad as a Christmas gift. I know he’d love it! Can you believe it’s that time again already?? But that’s a post for another day…
Sara O’