The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
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List of the most influential people in Religious Studies,
#5051
Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost
1768 - 1835 (67 years)
Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost was a German theologian, philosopher and classical philologist. He studied theology and philology at the University of Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1792. In 1794 he served as a vespers minister at the university church, then relocated to Plauen as rector at the lyceum. In 1796 he returned to Leipzig as conrector at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, where from 1800 to 1835, he held the post of rector.
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Tobias Clausnitzer
1619 - 1684 (65 years)
Tobias Clausnitzer was a German Lutheran pastor and hymn writer. Leben und Wirken Born in Thum, Clausnitzer studied theology at the University of Leipzig from 1642. In 1644, he became military chaplain for a unit of the Swedish army. When the Thirty Years' War ended, he held a service celebrating the Peace of Westphalia in Weiden in der Oberpfalz in 1649. He settled, became pastor, and later also and inspector of Parkstein and Weiden. He died in 1684 as Superintendent in Weiden.
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Albrecht Wolters
1822 - 1878 (56 years)
Albrecht Julius Constantin Wolters was a German Protestant theologian. He was the father of classical archaeologist Paul Wolters . He studied theology at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, where he was a pupil of August Neander. After passing his first theological examination, he spent three years as a tutor in Naples, then serving as an assistant pastor in the city of Krefeld . In 1850 became a teacher at a higher Töchterschule in Cologne, and from July 1851 to May 1857, worked as a pastor in Wesel.
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Franz Boll
1805 - 1875 (70 years)
Franz Christian Boll was a Lutheran theologian and historian. He was the father of physiologist Franz Christian Boll , and the brother of naturalist Ernst Boll , with whom he collaborated throughout his career.
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Hilarius of Sexten
1839 - 1899 (60 years)
Hilarius of Sexten was an Austrian Capuchin moral theologian. Life After a course of studies at Brixen, he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in 1858 and was ordained priest in 1862. Having labored in parochial duties for some years, he was appointed to teach moral theology at Meran in 1872. Both secular and regular clergy consulted him in difficult cases.
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Alexander Viets Griswold Allen
1841 - 1908 (67 years)
Alexander Viets Griswold Allen was an American author, Episcopal clergyman and theologian. Biography Allen was born in Otis, Massachusetts, on May 4, 1841, to Ethan and Lydia Child Allen, née Burr.
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Urban T. Holmes III
1930 - 1981 (51 years)
Urban Tigner Holmes III was an Episcopal priest, theologian, and academic during the twentieth century. He was the son of Urban T. Holmes Jr. and Margaret Allan Gemmell Holmes. Following studies at the University of North Carolina, he studied for the priesthood at the former Philadelphia Divinity School. He served as dean of the School of Theology of the University of the South from 1973 until his death. His biggest accomplishment while in Sewanee was the establishment of the Education for Ministry program.
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Gordon Selwyn
1885 - 1959 (74 years)
Edward Gordon Selwyn was an English Anglican priest and theologian, who served as Warden of Radley College from 1913 to 1919; Rector of Red Hill, near Havant. He was Dean of Winchester from 1931 to 1958. He wrote sermons and other books and was the editor of the liberal Anglo-Catholic journal Theology during the first fourteen years of its existence, 1920–34.
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Johann Nepomuk Oischinger
1817 - 1876 (59 years)
Johann Nepomuk Paul Oischinger was a German Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher who was a native of Witzmannsberg, Bavaria. Oischinger studied theology and philosophy at the University of Munich, where he had as instructors Franz Xaver von Baader , Joseph Görres , Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , Ignaz von Döllinger , Heinrich Klee , Johann Adam Möhler and Franz Xaver Reithmayr . In 1841 he received his ordination in Regensburg, and shortly afterwards returned to Munich, where he worked as a private scholar and journalist for the remainder of his career.
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Francis Sylvius
1581 - 1649 (68 years)
Francis Sylvius was a Flemish Roman Catholic theologian. Life After completing his course of humanities at Mons, he studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven and theology at University of Douai, in a seminary founded by the bishop of Cambrai in connection with the faculty of theology. While studying theology he taught philosophy at the royal college. On 9 November 1610, he was made doctor of theology with the highest honours.
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Giusto Fontanini
1666 - 1736 (70 years)
Giusto Fontanini was a Roman Catholic archbishop and an Italian historian. Biography A prelate and attentive bibliophile, in 1697 became a stubborn and reactionary defender of the Papal Curia. In 1708, he was a protagonist of a contentious controversy over the possession of the territory of Comacchio between the Papacy and the Este Dukes of Modena along with their protector, the Austrian Hapsburg empire. In 1597, the then Duke of Ferrara Alfonso II d'Este died without heirs. While the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II recognized as heir to Alfonso, his cousin Cesare d'Este, his dubious legitimacy led the papal states to claim the Duchy of Ferrara, including Comacchio.
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Hugh Black
1868 - 1953 (85 years)
Hugh Black was a Scottish-American theologian and author. Life Black was born on March 26, 1868, in Rothesay, Scotland. He received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Glasgow in 1887, and studied divinity at Free Church College Glasgow from 1887 until 1891. Black was ordained in 1891 and became associate pastor at St George's Free Church in Edinburgh in 1896, where he worked with Alexander Whyte.
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David Erdmann
1821 - 1905 (84 years)
David Erdmann was a German evangelical theologian and church historian. Life Christian Friedrich David Erdmann was born at Güstebiese , a village on the eastern bank of the Oder river a short distance inland and upstream from Stettin. He studied Theology in Berlin, and in 1845 became a member of the Berlin Wingolf . He received a "Privatdozent" in 1853, and in 1856 became a full professor for Theology and Church History at the University of Königsberg, also serving as a pastor.
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Veit Erbermann
1597 - 1675 (78 years)
Veit Erbermann was a German theologian and controversialist. He was born at Rendweisdorff, in Bavaria, to Lutheran parents, but at an early age he became a Roman Catholic, and on 30 May 1620, entered the Society of Jesus. After completing his ecclesiastical studies he taught philosophy and Scholastic theology, first at Mainz and afterwards at Würzburg. Subsequently he was appointed rector of the pontifical seminary at Fulda, which position he held for seven years.
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Georges Dandoy
1882 - 1962 (80 years)
Georges Dandoy was a Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary in India, theologian and Indologist. He is included in the so-called ‘Calcutta School of Indology’ . Education After a year of philosophical studies at Namur , he was sent to Stonyhurst, England to complete his philosophy , and to begin studying Sanskrit at Oxford University . Sent to Kolkata, he began teaching at St Xavier’s College before beginning his theological studies at St Mary’s, Kurseong, near Darjeeling . He was ordained priest in November 1914.
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Jakob Ebert
1549 - 1614 (65 years)
Jakob Ebert was a German theologian and poet. Life Born in Sprottau, Ebert was the son of . He was school director in Soldin, Schwiebus and Grünberg. From 1594 he was on the faculty of the university in Frankfurt , teaching theology.
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Christian of Stavelot
801 - 900 (99 years)
Christian of Stavelot was a ninth-century Christian monk. He is sometimes referred to as Christian Druthmar or Druthmar of Aquitaine. Christian was a noted grammarian, Biblical commentator, and eschatologist. He was born in Aquitaine, southwestern France, in the early ninth century AD, and became a monk at the Benedictine monastery of Corbie. At some point in the early or mid-ninth century he was sent to the abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy in Liège, to teach Bible to the monks there. It is unknown whether he died at Stavelot, returned to Corbie or was ultimately sent elsewhere.
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J. Wyley Sessions
1885 - 1977 (92 years)
James Wyley Sessions was an American religious leader who was the first Institute of Religion director in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Early life Sessions was born in Cassia County, Idaho Territory.
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Francis Line
1595 - 1675 (80 years)
Francis Line, SJ , also known as Linus of Liège, was a Jesuit priest and scientist. He is known for inventing a magnetic clock. He is noted as a contemporary critic of the theories and work of Isaac Newton. He also challenged Robert Boyle and his law of gases.
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Robert Ciboule
1403 - 1458 (55 years)
Robert Ciboule was a French Roman Catholic theologian and moralist.
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Pietro Maria Gazzaniga
1722 - 1799 (77 years)
Pietro Maria Gazzaniga was an Italian Dominican theologian. Life At a very early age he entered the Order of St. Dominic, and studied the various branches of ecclesiastical sciences, especially philosophy and theology. He was then, despite his youth, appointed to teach philosophy and church history, first in the various houses of his order and later at the University of Bologna.
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Abraham Trommius
1633 - 1719 (86 years)
Abrahamus Trommius , also known as Abraham Trom, was a Dutch pastor and Reformed theologian. He belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. He is known for his concordance to the Bible, nicknamed De Trommius.
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Bernt Støylen
1858 - 1937 (79 years)
Bernt Andreas Støylen was a Norwegian theologian, psalmist, and Bishop in the Church of Norway. Personal life Støylen was born in Sande in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway on 17 February 1858. He was the son of farmer and fisherman Andreas Olsen Støylen and Margrete Helgesdatter Bringsvor. He was married in Bergen in 1890 to Kamilla Karoline Heiberg. His son was Kaare Støylen, a future bishop, and his brother-in-law was Georg Sverdrup, the Norwegian-American theologian. He died in Bærum, Norway in 1937.
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Herbert Edward Ryle
1856 - 1925 (69 years)
Herbert Edward Ryle was an English Old Testament scholar and Anglican bishop, successively serving as the Bishop of Exeter, the Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Westminster. Early life Ryle was born in Onslow Square, South Kensington, London, on 25 May 1856, the second son of John Charles Ryle , the first Bishop of Liverpool, and his second wife, Jessie Elizabeth Walker. Herbert Ryle was three years old when his mother died, and in 1861 his father married Henrietta Clowes, who was a loving mother to her stepchildren. Ryle and his brothers and sisters were brought up in their father's cou...
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Petrus Serrarius
1600 - 1669 (69 years)
Petrus Serrarius was a millenarian theologian, writer, and also a wealthy merchant, who established himself in Amsterdam in 1630, and was active there until his death. He was born "into a well-to-do Walloon merchant family by name of Serrurier in London." He has been called "the dean of the dissident Millenarian theologians in Amsterdam".
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Theodor Undereyck
1635 - 1693 (58 years)
Theodor Undereyck was a Protestant pastor, spiritual writer and pioneer of pietism in the German Reformed Church. Theodor Undereyck was born in 1635, the son of businessman Gerhard Undereyck and his wife Sara, née Salanger. After the death of his parents in 1636 by the plague, he grew up as an orphan in the house of his uncle Johann Undereyck in Alstaden.
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Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza
1578 - 1651 (73 years)
Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza , also called Puente Hurtado de Mendoza, was a Basque scholastic philosopher and theologian. Philosophical work He was a teacher of theology and philosophy in Valladolid and he occupied a chair at the University of Salamanca.
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Johannes Gezelius the elder
1615 - 1690 (75 years)
Johannes Gezelius the elder , known in Swedish as Johannes Gezelius den äldre and Johannes Gezelius vanhempi in Finnish, was the Bishop of Turku and the Vice-Chancellor of The Royal Academy of Turku .
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Lucien Gautier
1850 - 1924 (74 years)
Charles Lucien Gautier was a Swiss theologian, born at Cologny, near Geneva, and educated at Geneva, Leipzig, and Tübingen. In 1877-98 he was professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis at Lausanne, and thereafter honorary professor. He was the president of the synod of the Vaudois église libre in 1885, 1886, 1891, and 1892. He traveled in Palestine in 1893-94 and 1899, and wrote:Au dela du Jourdain Souvenirs de Terre-Sainte Autour de la Mer Morte In addition he translated Ghazali's Ad-Dourra el Fâkhira and wrote:Le sacerdoce dans l'Ancien Testament La mission du prophète Ezéchiel Voca...
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Jean-Baptiste Terrien
1832 - 1903 (71 years)
Jean-Baptiste Terrien was a French Jesuit dogmatic theologian. Life He entered the Society of Jesus at Angers, 7 December 1854; he then taught philosophy for two years and dogmatic theology for twenty-two at the seminaries of Laval , 1864–80, and Saint Helier , 1880–88. After being spiritual father at Laval, he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology and taught three years, 1891–94, at the Catholic Institute of Paris, remaining afterwards in this city as spiritual father and writer.
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Theodor Kliefoth
1810 - 1895 (85 years)
Theodor Friedrich Dethlof Kliefoth was a German Neo-Lutheran. He was born in Körchow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 18 January 1810 and he died in Schwerin on 26 January 1895. Life He was educated at the gymnasium of Schwerin, and at the Universities of Berlin and Rostock. In 1833 he was appointed instructor of Duke William of Mecklenburg, and in 1837 accompanied Grand Duke Frederick Francis as tutor to Dresden. He became pastor at Ludwigslust in 1840, and superintendent of Schwerin in 1844. Since 1835 he had been the leading spirit in the ecclesiastical and theological affairs of his state. With th...
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Johann Jakob Wick
1522 - 1588 (66 years)
Johann Jakob Wick was a Protestant clergyman from Zürich. Wick lived in the Zürich of Heinrich Bullinger, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli. He studied theology in Tübingen, and was pastor of Witikon, at the city hospital, and the Predigerkirche. Afterwards he was canon and second archdeacon at the Grossmünster. Wick is the collector of the Wickiana.
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Karl Gerok
1815 - 1890 (75 years)
Karl Gerok was a German preacher and religious poet. Biography He studied at Tübingen, and became chief court preacher and chief consistorial councillor in Stuttgart in 1868. Works His sermons, and particularly his religious poetry, were much admired. The chief collection of the latter is entitled Palmblätter . It was translated into English by Brown . This and Pfingstrosen made him famous. He also published Blumen und Sternen and, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, patriotic effusions under the title of Deutsche Ostern .
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Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani
922 - 996 (74 years)
Ibn Abī Zayd , fully Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Zayd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nafzawī ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawanī, was a Maliki scholar from Kairouan in Tunisia and was also an active proponent of Ash'ari thought. His best known work is Al-Risala or the Epistle, an instructional book devoted to the education of young children. He was a member of the Nafzawah Berber tribe and lived in Kairouan. In addition, he served as the Imam of one of the mosques' that followed the Maliki School tradition. Based on what he wrote in his Risalah regarding creed, there was many alignments with the Ashari creed. ...
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Karl August Traugott Vogt
1808 - 1869 (61 years)
Karl August Traugott Vogt, name sometimes given as Carl Vogt was a German Protestant theologian. He was the father of philologist Friedrich Vogt . Vogt was born in Wittenberg. In 1830 he obtained his habilitation at the University of Berlin, where he later became an associate professor of church history and practical theology. During his time spent in Berlin, he gave sermons at the Trinity Church. In 1837 he relocated as a full professor to the University of Greifswald, where on three occasions he served as university rector . In Greifswald, he also served as an ecclesiastical superintendent and as a member of the Consistory.
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Cyrus David Foss
1834 - 1910 (76 years)
Cyrus David Foss was a prominent Methodist bishop in the latter 19th century, primarily serving in New York City and New England. Biography Foss was born in Kingston, New York, on January 17, 1834. He attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1854. He began his career teaching, and then entered the ministry. Foss was "pastor of the most prominent Methodist churches in this city [New York] and Brooklyn."
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Frederik Julius Bech
1758 - 1822 (64 years)
Frederik Julius Bech was a Danish-Norwegian theologian and politician. He took part in the Meeting of Notables in Eidsvoll on February 16, 1814, and he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Oslo from 1805 to 1822. As the head of the Church of Norway, he crowned Charles III John of Norway at Nidaros Cathedral in 1818.
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Stanislovas Rapolionis
1485 - 1545 (60 years)
Stanislovas Svetkus Rapolionis was a Lutheran activist and Protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With patronage of Albert, Duke of Prussia, he obtained the doctorate of theology from the Protestant University of Wittenberg where he studied under Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. After graduation, he became the first professor of theology at the newly established University of Königsberg, also known as Albertina. As professor he began working on several Protestant publications and translations, including a Bible translation into Polish. It is believed that he also started the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian.
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Daniel Tilenus
1563 - 1633 (70 years)
Daniel Tilenus was a German-French Protestant theologian. Initially a Calvinist, he became a prominent and influential Arminian teaching at the Academy of Sedan. He was an open critic of the Synod of Dort of 1618-9.
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Caspar Erich Schieler
1851 - 1934 (83 years)
Caspar Erasmus Schieler was a German theologian, church historian and priest in the late 19th century and early 20th century. According to documents provided by Mainz Cathedral and the Diocesan Seminary, Schieler studied philosophy and theology at the Episcopal Seminary in Mainz , receiving the Doctor of Divinity degree. Schieler first served as a priest at the age of twenty-five at Mainz, Cathedral ordained under Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler in the year 1876. Due to the Kulturkampf, Schieler was interrogated by the German government and forced to pastor his parish in secret, to avoid further attention.
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Heymeric de Campo
1395 - 1460 (65 years)
Heymeric de Campo was a Dutch theologian and scholastic philosopher. He was a prominent Albertist, and forerunner of Nicholas of Cusa. He studied at the University of Paris, and taught at Cologne , and Leuven.
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Božo Milanović
1890 - 1980 (90 years)
Msgr. Božo Milanović , was a Croatian priest, theologian and politician from Istria, and, along with Antonio Santino, one of the greatest anti-fascists of Istria. He is credited with decisively contributing to the unification of Istria with Croatia.
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Bjarni Halldórsson
1703 - 1773 (70 years)
Bjarni Halldórsson was an Icelandic legal figure and theologian. He is best known for being a county magistrate. He first lived in Víðidalstungu but most of his life he lived in Þingeyrar.
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Stephan Agricola
1491 - 1547 (56 years)
Stephan Agricola was a Lutheran church reformer. Born in Abensberg, at a young age he joined the Augustinian order. As a monk, he studied Augustine deeply. As a student, he went to the universities in Bologna and Venice, where in 1519 he became a Doctor of Theology. He began to preach on whole books of the Bible in 1520. He was led to Lutheranism through his study of Augustine's works on the scriptures. He was accused of Lutheranism as a heresy. Although he claimed his independence of Luther, he was arrested and imprisoned in Mühldorf on November 17, 1522. In 1523 he escaped and came to Augsb...
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Liselotte Richter
1906 - 1968 (62 years)
Liselotte Richter was a German philosopher and theologian. She was the first female professor of philosophy in Germany. Early life Luise Charlotte Richter was born in 1906 and grew up with her twin brother Fritz in a middle-class family, first in Berlin-Tegel and then in Charlottenburg.
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Francisco Macedo
1596 - 1681 (85 years)
Francisco Macedo , known as S. Augustino, was a Portuguese Franciscan theologian. Life He entered the Jesuit Order in 1610, which however he left in 1638 in order to join the Discalced Augustinians. These also he left in 1648, for the Franciscans. In Portugal he sided with the House of Braganza.
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John Arrowsmith
1602 - 1659 (57 years)
John Arrowsmith was an English theologian and academic. Life Arrowsmith was born near Gateshead and entered St John's College, Cambridge, in 1616. In 1623 he entered the fellowship of St Catherine Hall, Cambridge.
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John Punch
1603 - 1661 (58 years)
John Punch was an Irish Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian. Punch was ultimately responsible for the now classic formulation of Ockham's Razor, in the shape of the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, "entities are not to be multiplied unnecessarily." His formulation was slightly different: Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate. Punch did not attribute this wording to William of Ockham, but instead referred to the principle as a "common axiom" used by the Scholastics.
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E. J. P. Jorissen
1829 - 1912 (83 years)
Eduard Johan Pieter Jorissen was a Dutch lawyer and politician. He graduated in theology and served as State Attorney of the South African Republic from 1876 to 1877 under Thomas François Burgers.
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