The Christian Witness of Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh · Edited by T. Dayanandan Francis · A Collection of His Writings
About this book
The Christian Witness of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Collection of His Writings by Sadhu Sundar Singh, compiled and edited by T. Dayanandan Francis
First published in 1989 by the Christian Literature Society (CLS), Chennai, and now in its sixth edition (2010, reprinted 2012), this anthology gathers into one volume most of the short devotional books, essays, sermons, sayings, table talk, a travel account and personal prayers that Sadhu Sundar Singh wrote or dictated during his lifetime, together with a substantial biographical introduction by the editor and three historical appendices. It is one of the most complete single-volume collections of Sundar Singh's own writing available in English, drawing together works that were originally published separately in the 1920s.
- 16 works, in two parts + appendices
- 1989 first published
- 2010 / 2012 6th edn. / reprint
- English
- Copyrighted work
- Editor: T. Dayanandan Francis
This specific compiled edition is copyrighted — see Source & Rights below before assuming any part of it may be freely copied. This page is a bibliographic reader's guide: verified publication facts, the full table of contents, and a description of each piece in UECF.NET's own words, not a reproduction of the book's text.
See the full contents How to read the complete book
🗄 Source record at Internet Archive Sadhu Sundar Singh (author page) ← Books
Find a section
This guide is a single page, so search jumps you straight to a section below.
Table of Contents
As printed in the sixth edition (2010) of the Christian Literature Society text, with the page on which each piece begins.
Part I
·Introduction: Sadhu Sundar Singh — The Lover of the Cross p. 23 1At the Master's Feet p. 81 2Reality and Religion p. 127 3The Search After Reality p. 189 4The Spiritual Life p. 237 5The Spiritual World p. 289 6The Real Life p. 341 7With and Without Christ p. 417 8The Real Pearl p. 469 9Sermons & Sayings of S. S. Singh p. 507 10Life in Abundance p. 581 11Selections from The Cross Is Heaven p. 601Part II
12Table Talk and Conversations of the Sadhu p. 601 13A Tour to Tibet, by Sadhu Sundar Singh p. 655 14Two Prayers of Sadhu Sundar Singh p. 661Appendices
·Appendices & Bibliography p. 662–667Part I's final entry and Part II's first entry are both printed with the page number 601 in the source edition's own contents page; UECF.NET has reproduced this exactly as printed rather than guessing at a correction.
What's in this collection
The pieces below are described here in UECF.NET's own words, for reference and to help a reader locate material in the printed book or in the individually available editions of Sundar Singh's own works elsewhere on this site. No text from the Christian Literature Society edition is reproduced.
Introduction — Sadhu Sundar Singh: The Lover of the Cross
The editor's biographical and theological introduction, written for the book's 1989 first edition, timed to Sundar Singh's birth centenary year (1988–89). It sets the writings that follow in the context of his life, conversion, and itinerant ministry.
At the Master's Feet
One of Sundar Singh's earliest published books, a short devotional work of parables, meditations and sayings in the storytelling style for which he became known — teaching drawn from everyday village life in North India rather than from formal theological argument.
Reality and Religion
A short book of Sundar Singh's reflections on the difference between an outward, formal religion and a living, inward experience of Christ — already available on UECF.NET as its own web book.
The Search After Reality
A companion piece to Reality and Religion, continuing Sundar Singh's meditation on the difference between merely believing true things about God and actually knowing him.
The Spiritual Life
Sundar Singh's teaching on prayer, meditation and the disciplines of a life given over to Christ, addressed to ordinary believers rather than to other ascetics.
The Spiritual World
Sundar Singh's best-known and most debated work, recounting the visions of the unseen world that he reported experiencing in prayer. It is available on UECF.NET in full as Visions of the Spiritual World.
The Real Life
A short devotional work contrasting an authentic, Christ-centered life with a merely nominal or outwardly religious one — a recurring theme across Sundar Singh's writing.
With and Without Christ
A widely read collection of parables and stories contrasting life lived with and without Christ, first published in 1929, the year of Sundar Singh's disappearance. UECF.NET carries this title separately in full as With and Without Christ.
The Real Pearl
A shorter devotional piece, again built around Sundar Singh's characteristic method of teaching through parable and illustration rather than direct exposition.
Sermons & Sayings of S. S. Singh
A gathered selection of Sundar Singh's recorded sermons and short sayings, reflecting the oral, itinerant character of most of his teaching ministry.
Life in Abundance
A further devotional collection on the theme of the fullness of life Sundar Singh believed was available in Christ, echoing John 10:10.
Selections from The Cross Is Heaven
Excerpts from The Cross Is Heaven: The Life and Writings of Sadhu Sundar Singh, a later anthology edited by A. J. Appasamy (1956), also listed on UECF.NET's book information page.
Table Talk and Conversations of the Sadhu
Informal conversations and remarks attributed to Sundar Singh, recorded by those who travelled or met with him, giving a more personal, unscripted picture of his thought than his formal writings.
A Tour to Tibet
Sundar Singh's own account of one of his preaching journeys across the Himalayas into Tibet — the same kind of journey from which he never returned in 1929.
Two Prayers of Sadhu Sundar Singh
Two short prayers attributed to Sundar Singh, closing the devotional material in Part II.
Appendices & Bibliography
Three appendices — Sundar Singh's last known letter (to the Rev. T. E. Riddle, March 1929, shortly before his final journey), a contemporary letter concerning him published in the National Missionary Intelligencer, and the text of his will — followed by a bibliography for further reading.
About the editor — T. Dayanandan Francis
T. Dayanandan Francis is an Indian Christian scholar, author and former General Secretary of the Christian Literature Society (CLS), Chennai, where he had a long career as an editor of Christian literature in English and Tamil. He has written on Tamil Christian poetry and Indian Christian thought in addition to compiling this anthology of Sundar Singh's writings.
About Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh (born 1889, Rampur, Punjab — last seen 1929) was an Indian Christian evangelist raised in a devout Sikh household who, after a dramatic conversion experience as a teenager, was baptized into the Christian church. In 1905 he adopted the saffron robe of a Hindu sadhu and spent the rest of his life as a barefoot, itinerant preacher, walking through the Himalayan foothills, Tibet, and much of South and East Asia, and later touring Britain, Europe, North America and Australia. He set out on what became his final journey into Tibet in 1929 and was never confirmed to have arrived; he is generally presumed to have died on that journey. His many short devotional books, dictated in Urdu and translated into English, made him one of the most widely read Indian Christian writers of the twentieth century.
This paragraph is UECF.NET editorial background, drawn from standard biographical reference sources on Sundar Singh, not a quotation from this book.
📜 Source & Rights
Source used to verify this page: the sixth edition (2010, reprinted 2012) of The Christian Witness of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Collection of His Writings, edited by T. Dayanandan Francis and published by the Christian Literature Society, Post Box 501, Park Town, Chennai – 600 003, first published 1989 — as digitized in the Internet Archive item the-christian-witness-of-sadhu-sundar-singh-a-collection-of-his-writings. Every bibliographic fact on this page — title, editor, publisher, edition history and full table of contents — comes from that scan's own title page, copyright page and contents page.
Rights: the scanned edition itself states plainly, on its copyright page, that its copyright belongs to the Christian Literature Society "by special arrangement with the Sadhu Sundar Singh Trust," with royalties applied to charitable purposes named in Sundar Singh's will, and that the book may not be published in English or any other language without the publisher's permission. UECF.NET has not obtained, and has not sought, reproduction rights for this compiled edition, so the book's text is not reproduced on this page, and UECF.NET does not host, mirror, or link to a downloadable copy of it. The Internet Archive link above is provided only as the bibliographic record used to verify the facts on this page, not as a recommended way to obtain the book.
Several of the individual pieces this anthology collects were originally published by Sundar Singh in the 1920s and are in the public domain in their own right; where UECF.NET already carries one of those individual works in full, it is linked above and in Related Christian Books below.
Legitimate ways to read the complete 1989 anthology:
- Buy a copy — from the Christian Literature Society, Chennai, or a bookseller of your choice.
- Borrow it from a library — use WorldCat to find a library near you that holds a copy.
If the Christian Literature Society or the Sadhu Sundar Singh Trust would like to correct any detail on this page, or discuss an authorized excerpt, please write to info@uecf.net.
Publication details
- Title: The Christian Witness of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Collection of His Writings
- Author: Sadhu Sundar Singh
- Editor: T. Dayanandan Francis
- First published: 1989, The Christian Literature Society (Chennai)
- Later edition: Sixth edition, 2010; reprint, 2012
- Language: English
- Copyright: The Christian Literature Society, by special arrangement with the Sadhu Sundar Singh Trust
- Source record: Internet Archive
Latest updates
- 2026 — Published as a UECF.NET reader's guide: full verified table of contents, a description of every piece in UECF.NET's own words, and links to the individually available public-domain writings this anthology collects. No text of the copyrighted 1989 compilation is reproduced.
Spot an error, or would you like to help expand this guide? Please contact us.