Carsten Frerk was born in 1945 south of Hamburg. He studied German language and literature, art history, and political sciences. In 1979 he received his PhD (summa cum laude) in political science (Dr. rer. pol.) with a thesis on the possibilities and limits of the practical orientation of political science studies. From 1975 to 1980 he worked as a research assistant/lecturer at the Free University of Berlin in the political science department.

From 1980 to 1991 he was managing director of Quorum Verlag und Druck GmbH in Berlin. From 1991 to 1993 he worked as a postcard and calendar vendor in Dresden, Görlitz, Zittau, Bautzen, and Riesa. Carsten Frerk has been working as an author, journalist, and copywriter since 1993. Until 2013 he was editor-in-chief of Humanistischer Pressedienst (hpd - Humanistic Press Service), which became the most important online medium of the secular community under his leadership. He is currently head of the Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen in Deutschland (fowid - Research Group on Worldviews in Germany). The social scientist is acknowledged as an expert with in-depth knowledge of church finances.

Publication (selection):

• Kirchenrepublik Deutschland. Christlicher Lobbyismus, 2015
• Gottes Werk und unser Beitrag. Kirchenfinanzierung in Österreich (with Christoph Baumgarten), 2012
• Violettbuch Kirchenfinanzen, 2010
• Die Kirche im Kopf. Von "Ach Herrje! bis "Zum Teufel!" (with Michael Schmidt-Salomon), 2007
• Caritas und Diakonie in Deutschland, 2005
• Das geraubte Siegel. Novel, 2003
• Finanzen und Vermögen der Kirchen in Deutschland, 2002
• Der Sohn des Freibeuters. Hamburg Anno 1591. Novel, 2000
• Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Praxisorientierung des Studiums von Politologen. Eine empirische Analyse, 1982

Website:

http://www.carstenfrerk.de/