Marcus Bach was born in Sauk City, Wisconsin. He trained for the ordained ministry at Mission House College and seminary in Plymouth, Wisconsin. After a pastorate in Kansas City, Missouri, Marcus Bach returned to school to pursue play writing . He received his M.A. (1937) and Ph.D. (1942) from the University of Iowa's prestigious interfaith School of Religion. There he taught about little known religious sects and also presented the course in radio.
Although he always continued to write and publish, in 1961, he resigned from the School of Religion to pursue lecturing and writing full time. He authored twenty-seven 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. At one point in his life, Dr. Bach set out to meet the five people of his time whom he felt best exemplified the teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives. He travelled 40,000 miles in pursuit of this aim, interviewing Helen Keller, Pope Pius XII, Albert Schweitzer,Therese Neumann, and Shoghi Effendi.
Dr. Bach was founder and director of "The Fellowship for Spiritual Understanding." He has contributed to the Encyclopedia Americana, Theatre Arts, the Reader's Digest, and many other periodicals. and was director of special projects for SFF. The Rockefeller Foundation granted him a fellowship in “research and creative writing” from 1934-36
Marcus Bach is recognized as a leading authority on the world's religions and inter-cultural relations. Among his currently popular works are The World of Serendipity, The Power of Perception and the metaphysical allegory, I, Monty.
