Last week, I started going through A Christian Survey of World History by R.J. Rushdoony.

How we interpret history is a major part of our world view. Pagans define the meaning of history according to man; e.g. all that man has learned, discovered, etc. For a Christian, it is blatantly obvious that because of our faith, the definition of history is not confined to humanity.
I would state the following, but it has already been written (by Rushdoony, of course).
"To a Christian, history is the story of the world, of the rise and fall of man, and of his kingdoms, and the struggle of two powerful forces to dominate history. It teaches us that the world began with God and that it shall end in terms of His purpose".

So Christians see that history is not only limited to the dominion of men. When God is included in the meaning of history, things start to make sense. We see that God has a purpose, even from before the beginning of time, and that within that span until the end, it is being made manifest. And now you can understand why the way people interpret things (specifically history) is so important; it shows not only what they believe in, but also makes known their overall view of life; how they function.