Frank Forrester Church IV (September 23, 1948 – September 24, 2009) was a leading Unitarian Universalist minister, author, and theologian. He was Senior Minister of the Unitarian Church of All SoulsinNew York City, until late 2006 when he was appointed as Minister of Public Theology.[2]
He wrote about Christianity, Gnosticism, religious liberty in the US tradition, and his own father, a US Senator.
In 1991, Church's affair with a congregant brought his ability to serve as minister into question, but most of his congregation supported him.[1]
On February 4, 2008, Church sent a letter to the members of his congregation informing them that he had terminal cancer. He told them of his intention, which he successfully realized, to sum up his thoughts on the topics that had been pervasive in his work in a final book, entitled Love & Death.
Church died of esophageal cancer in New York City on September 24, 2009, a day after his 61st birthday.[4] He is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.
Church is best known as a leader of liberal religion. Between 1985 and his death, he wrote or edited more than 20 books. These include technical studies of Christian and Gnostic literature, as well as over a dozen books addressing a wider audience.[2][5]
Books authored by Church include:
Father and Son: A Personal Biography of Senator Frank Church of Idaho
The trilogy A Humane Comedy: The Devil and Dr. Church, Entertaining Angels, and The Seven Deadly Virtues
Early Christian Prayer
Early Christian Hymns
The Essential Tillich
God and Other Famous Liberals: Recapturing Bible, Flag, and Family from the Far Right, Walker & Company, 1996 (ISBN978-0802774835)
Church can be seen offering commentary in the History Channel documentaries Haunted History of Halloween[6] and Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas.[7]
