Annapolis minister author of two books on faith, Unitarianism
Having two books published simultaneously may seem quite an accomplishment, but their author - the Rev. Fredric John Muir, parish minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis - says it was more of an accident.
The paperbound books, one looking at religious vocabulary through liberal eyes and the other on the Unitarian church in the Philippines, were planned for publication a year and half apart.
But the first, "Heretics' Faith," was eaten by his computer - "erased," he said, leaving him faced with rewriting the entire volume.
The other book, "Maglipay Universalist," a history of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines, also had its problems, delayed for nine months over publishing arrangements. It was produced with a grant from the Boston-based Fund for International Unitarian Universalism.
Both books officially have Muir's Annapolis church as publisher. Neither is available yet in bookstores. They may be purchased at the church, with a cover price of $20, and "in a couple of weeks both will be available on Amazon," Muir said.
"Heretics' Faith" was written, Muir said, to help Unitarians and "unchurched" people understand certain religious terms.
The book on the Philippines is an outgrowth of two visits there by Muir - the first about nine years ago and the second two years later, when he stayed for two months. The chief religion in the Philippines is Catholicism, and Muir said he thought it amazing in a country composed of numerous islands, that all of its Unitarian Universalist congregations existed on only one of them. The title, "Maglipay Universalist," means "be joyful, Universalist."
Muir, 51, is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York. He received his doctorate in ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, and has been at the Annapolis church for 18 of his 25 years as a parish minister.
