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Year 1: Ancient History and Old Testament
"History is stories. It has beginnings, middles, ends, and all its stories are events in the gathering action of one story, Sacred History, whose model is the Bible....As Catholics, we are preeminently the people for whom history matters. There is a Christian imagination of history, a Christian answer to the question of history...History is not only stories, it is the Story of Stories."
Connecting With History, Year 1 focuses on the "cradle of civilization" while following the outline of Old Testament salvation history. Cultures studies include: the Israelites, Mesopotamian cultures (Sumerians, Hittites, Babylonians, Phoenicians), Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Republic. By integrating world history within the framework of the Old Testament and salvation history, our goal is to convey the truth that religious history and world history are not separate. Each of the civilizations included in this volume is mentioned in the Bible.
Although the Bible is not a history text, it contains historical events and real people who lived at specific times and places within world history and each had a mission and purpose within God's plan. By reading history texts alongside the Old Testament students discover the many people and events that bridge the gap between secular and religious history. For example, while studying the conquests of Alexander the Great, students will read portions of the book of Maccabees in which Alexander is mentioned. Through encountering these historical connections your family will discover that history contains a cohesive narrative, a plan, and a purpose.
Connecting with History also emphasizes that each one of us is living in a time and place within history for a reason and a purpose within God's plan for salvation. Through thoughtful and open-ended discussion questions, we lead each member of the family to reflect on what God is calling them to be and to do in their own lives.
Volume One includes an introductory week and ten thematic units.
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