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The Fundamentals Contents: Every Essay and Writer, Volume by Volume

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This is the complete table of contents of The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth in the four-volume edition of 1917, the edition TheWay Library follows. Every essay is listed with its writer, and every title links straight to the chapter in the free reader. If you want the background first, start with What Are The Fundamentals?

A few things to know before you look through the list:

Volume 1: The Bible and Its Critics

Volume 1 opens with Torrey's account of how the books came to be, then takes on the higher criticism of the Bible: where it came from, where its writers thought it went wrong, and the disputed questions of the Pentateuch, Isaiah, Daniel and Genesis. It closes with archaeology, science and a former critic's own story. For a guide to its argument, see What The Fundamentals Say About Higher Criticism.

Volume 2: Scripture, God and Christ

Volume 2 turns from the Bible's critics to the Bible's own claims. The first half is on inspiration, prophecy and the living power of the Word. The second half is on God and Christ: the existence of God, the deity and virgin birth of Christ, His resurrection, and the Holy Spirit. See The Fundamentals on the Deity of Christ.

Volume 3: Sin, Salvation and Mission

Volume 3 moves from doctrine to practice. It begins with sin, judgment and the atonement, goes on to grace, regeneration and justification, and then spends most of its length on carrying the gospel to others. See The Fundamentals on Sin, Salvation and Missions.

Volume 4: The Faith Among Its Rivals

Volume 4 answers the philosophies and movements of its day, then turns to prayer, giving, the Scriptures and the return of Christ, and ends with personal testimonies. See The Fundamentals on Darwinism, the Cults and Personal Testimony.

The two essays left out, and why

TheWay Library publishes only books that are in the public domain. The Fundamentals were published in the United States in 1917, so they are public domain there. For books by writers from outside the United States, the library also follows the United Kingdom's rule, under which a writer's work stays under copyright until seventy years after the end of the year of his death.

Two writers in Volume 4 died too recently for that rule. Algernon J. Pollock, who wrote "Modern Spiritualism Briefly Tested by Scripture," died in 1957, and John McNicol, who wrote "The Hope of the Church," died in 1956. Their two chapters are held back until their copyright runs out. The chapter numbers above follow the 1917 edition, which is why Volume 4 skips from XI to XIII and from XX to XXII.

Torrey's preface also says the 1917 edition itself left out "a very few" articles from the original twelve booklets that "did not seem to be in exact keeping with the original purpose of The Fundamentals." Those were dropped by the editors in 1917, not by this library, so they do not appear in any copy of the four-volume set.

Where to start

If you're new to the set, a few essays make good first reads. Torrey's bodily resurrection essay is clear and well argued. J. J. Reeve's personal experience with the higher criticism is short and honest. Warfield on the deity of Christ is brief and searching, and the personal testimony of C. T. Studd can be read in ten minutes. All four volumes are free in TheWay Library, starting with Volume 1.

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