The Brotherhood of the Scroll is a fictionalized account of the some of the Old Testament prophets: Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It is carefully based on scripture. This book, in itself, is well worth the read, but what it can teach us about what is going on in our world today is extremely valuable. So is the accompanying spiral curriculum that goes with it:  Clash of the Superpowers. This resource is a comparative history curriculum for Brotherhood of the Scroll.

Clash of the Superpowers consists of nine lessons which cover all 29 chapters in the book. Each lesson has eight sections:

• The Historical Context

• What Was the Author thinking?

• Key Lesson

• Novel Excerpt

• Scripture Reference

• Discussion questions

• Call to Action

• Suggested Assignment.

In Lesson 1, the scripture is from 2 Kings. The author compares Egypt (an aging dominant superpower) with America (also an aging dominant superpower as well as Babylon (then a new, rising power) with China (also a new, rising power). For the assignment, he listed a number of countries and had the student research when and to what extent these countries were able to expand their reach. Then he had the student create a timeline to map this. The student is to project what will be the result by 2020 (in their opinion). Then the student is asked to identify 15-20 individuals from 1900-2010 who played a pivotal role in world affairs.  There are some more qualifiers but that gives you the gist of it.

My granddaughter, who is a senior this year, was extremely interested in this book and in the lessons that went along with it. She is an avid reader of historical and biblical fiction but she is also very interested in world affairs. At her homeschool co-op, she constantly enrolls in a world view class that is offered by a retired Army chaplain, and is the one female face in the crowd where a lot of enthusiastic students eagerly debate world affairs. She has found the assignments helpful in honing her knowledge and opinion on current events. But she has also delved into the historical aspect of it and reads any archaeological articles she can find on Biblical history. 

I am extremely impressed with this curriculum and if your high school student is looking for a meaty, not run of the mill, type of Bible curriculum then I highly recommend this. I think adult Bible study groups would also enjoy this. I always like the Old Testament studies the best!

-Product Review by Christine Hindle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2015