Strange Sects and Curious Cults

by Dr. Marcus Bach

Overview

Strange Sects and Curious Cults, first published in 1961, is a well-written overview of a number of important religious sects and cults. Author Marcus Bach divides these into three categories: the sex sects, conscience cults, and the utopianists.
The first group includes ancient Baalism of Mesopotamia, Osirism of Egypt, Shivism of India, and more recently, Voodoo of Africa and the New World. The Conscience Cults include the Penitentes, Apocalypticists, Father Divine of Harlem, the Oxford Groupers, and Psychiana. The section on Utopians includes the now-vanished Russian Doukhobors, followed by the Shakers, Amanas, Hutterites, and Mormons.
For anyone looking for a good introduction to offbeat religious groups, Strange Sects and Curious Cults will provide a useful background and serve as a basis for further research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787205567
Publisher:	Borodino Books
Publication date:	06/28/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	235
File size:	886 KB

About the Author

DR. MARCUS BACH (December 15, 1901 - March 26, 1995) was an American writer and lecturer on religion, and founder and director of "The Fellowship for Spiritual Understanding." He is recognized as a leading authority on the world's religions and inter-cultural relations. Among his popular works are The World of Serendipity, The Power of Perception and the metaphysical allegory, I, Monty.
He was born into a Protestant family in Sauk City, Wisconsin and trained for the ordained ministry at Mission House College and seminary in Plymouth, Wisconsin. After a pastorate in Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Bach returned to school to pursue playwriting. He received his M.A. (1937) and Ph.D. (1942) from the University of Iowa's prestigious interfaith School of Religion.
He resigned from the School of Religion in 1961 to pursue lecturing and writing full time. He authored numerous books, including Major Religions of the World, Had You Been Born in Another Faith, The Unity Way, The World of Serendipity, and The Power of Total Living.
He travelled 40,000 miles in pursuit of meeting five people of his time whom he felt best exemplified the teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives, interviewing Helen Keller, Pope Pius XII, Albert Schweitzer, Therese Neumann, and Shoghi Effendi.
He contributed to the Encyclopedia Americana, Theatre Arts, the Reader's Digest, and many other periodicals, and was director of special projects for the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship (SFF) in Independence, Montana. The Rockefeller Foundation granted him a fellowship in "research and creative writing" from 1934-1936.
He died in 1995 aged 93.

He was born into a Protestant family in Sauk City, Wisconsin and trained for the ordained ministry at Mission House College and seminary in Plymouth, Wisconsin. After a pastorate in Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Bach returned to school to pursue playwriting. He received his M.A. (1937) and Ph.D. (1942) from the University of Iowa’s prestigious interfaith School of Religion.
He resigned from the School of Religion in 1961 to pursue lecturing and writing full time. He authored numerous books, including Major Religions of the World, Had You Been Born in Another Faith, The Unity Way, The World of Serendipity, and The Power of Total Living.
He travelled 40,000 miles in pursuit of meeting five people of his time whom he felt best exemplified the teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives, interviewing Helen Keller, Pope Pius XII, Albert Schweitzer, Therese Neumann, and Shoghi Effendi.
He contributed to the Encyclopedia Americana, Theatre Arts, the Reader’s Digest, and many other periodicals, and was director of special projects for the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship (SFF) in Independence, Montana. The Rockefeller Foundation granted him a fellowship in “research and creative writing” from 1934-1936.
He died in 1995 aged 93.