Providential
History Series:
(These can be taken in sequence, or as stand-alone, individual parts)
World History, Liberty, and You
Watch for recorded courses online!
Watch for recorded courses online!
Civil War – Founding II
Fall 2012
The World at War – Founding III
Winter-Spring 2013
Watch for courses online soon!
The
Providential History Series
includes four courses, culminating in a Providential
History Family Tour of sites along the East Coast where the hand of
Providence was most clearly evinced.
Imagine gazing out across the ocean from Plymouth Rock, standing on the
commons at Lexington, crossing the Delaware, soaking in the atmosphere of
Independence Hall, touching the stone copings of the bridge across Antietam
Creek, and hiking up Little Round Top!
The lessons silently taught in the heart at these and other sacred spots
will mean more than scores of classes. The tour will include additional
educational opportunities such as optional readings, discussions, and lectures,
as well as fun activities for youths and families.
World History, Liberty,
and You traces the
implementation of the principles of liberty and their counterfeits, from Adam
and Eve (and even before) to today. The
course emphasizes how God works with individuals willing to work with Him to
bring about His plans, placing each student into that context. This emphasis is carried on throughout the
series.
The
other three courses, Revolution!—Founding
I, Civil War – Founding II,
and The World at War – Founding III,
deal with the history of America and its role in the world. Everyone knows about the 18th
century Founding, but there have been two foundings since then. The constitutional make-up of our country
changed radically, both legally and philosophically, after the Civil War. Our constitutional structure went from
federal to national in nature. A similar
constitutional shift took place, this time from national to international,
after World War II. Civil War – Founding II and The World at War – Founding III, address the effects,
beneficial and detrimental, of those respective constitutional changes. I believe that there are major problems with
the national and international constitutional structures which must be
addressed in order to make the next founding successful. We can only address these problems
successfully, however, if we first understand them, and understand the
conditions which legitimately prompted them.
There
is one other element. Foundings are
almost always preceded by a major crisis, usually a war, in which the
definition and sometimes the very continuation of civilization itself seem at
stake. These crises must be met and overcome
in order for a good founding to take place.
If the crisis is a war, then the war must be won. (Think of the consequent founding if Hitler
had won World War II!) The three Founding courses, therefore,
examine 1) the ideas behind the conflicts, 2) how the wars were won, and 3) the
application of constitutional principles in the foundings which followed.
