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,
#5201
Joseph Nirschl
1823 - 1904 (81 years)
Joseph Nirschl was a German Catholic theologian and writer. Life He was ordained in 1851 and graduated as doctor of theology in 1854 at Munich. He was appointed teacher of Christian doctrine at Passau in 1855 and in 1862 professor of church history and patrology. In 1879 he became professor of church history at the University of Würzburg, and was appointed dean of the cathedral in 1892.
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Christian Friedrich Illgen
1786 - 1844 (58 years)
Christian Friedrich Illgen was a German Protestant theologian, known for his work in the field of historical theology. Illgen was born in Chemnitz. He studied theology at the University of Leipzig, where in 1814 he obtained his habilitation. In 1818 he became an associate professor of philosophy, and several years later, an associate professor of theology. From 1825 onward, he served as a full professor of theology at the University of Leipzig. On four occasions he was dean to the faculty of theology .
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Johann Gottfried Hoche
1762 - 1836 (74 years)
Johann Gottfried Hoche was a German Protestant theologian and historian. He was the father of writer Louise Aston . He studied history and theology at the University of Halle, where his instructors included Johann Salomo Semler and Johann August Nösselt. In 1800 he was named second clergyman in the town of Gröningen, near Halberstadt. In 1805 he attained the positions of senior minister and superintendent, and soon afterwards, was appointed to the consistory in Halberstadt. Following the dissolution of Halberstadt consistory in 1816, he was offered a position in Magdeburg, but chose to remain...
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Antonio Escobar y Mendoza
1589 - 1669 (80 years)
Antonio Escobar y Mendoza was the leading ethicist of his time. Biography Born at Valladolid in Castile, he was educated by Jesuits before entering this order, aged fifteen. He soon became a famous preacher, and his facility was so great that for fifty years he preached daily, and sometimes twice a day. Above all he was a prodigious writer: his collected works comprise eighty-three volumes. Escobar's first literary efforts were Latin verses in praise of Ignatius Loyola and Mary , but his principal works focus on exegesis and moral theology. Of the latter the best-known are Summula casuum conscientiae , Liber theologiae moralis and Universae theologiae moralis problemata .
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Homer Hulbert
1863 - 1949 (86 years)
Homer Bezaleel Hulbert was an American missionary, journalist, linguist, and Korean independence activist. Hulbert went by a variety of names in Korea, including Hŏ Halpo , Hŏ Hŭlpŏp , and Halpo .
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Gustav Adolf Wislicenus
1803 - 1875 (72 years)
Gustav Adolf Wislicenus was a German theologian, one of the leaders of the Free Congregations. Biography He studied theology at Halle, and as member of the Burschenschaft was sentenced in 1824 to twelve years' confinement in a fortress. He was pardoned in 1829 and continued his studies in Berlin. In 1841 he became pastor at Halle, and became associated with the Friends of Light, and in consequence of a lecture delivered at Köthen in 1844, was deprived of his pastorate in 1846. He then a became a preacher of the free congregation at Halle.
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Walter Thomas Conner
1877 - 1952 (75 years)
Walter Thomas Conner was a prominent Baptist theologian and educator on the faculty of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas, from 1910 to 1949. He based his theological systems on those of his teachers, Benajah Harvey Carroll of Baylor University, Augustus Hopkins Strong at Rochester Theological Seminary, and Edgar Young Mullins, of Louisville. Conner was also influenced by personalism, His theology stressed the moral self consistency of the divine attributes. His writings emphasized the idea of "Christus victor" . Conner was a moderate Calvinist, but said little about the issue of biblical inspiration.
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Abraham Heidanus
1597 - 1678 (81 years)
Abraham van Heyden or van Heiden was a Dutch Calvinist minister and controversialist, sympathetic to Cartesianism. Life He was born in Frankenthal in the Palatinate, son of Gaspar van der Heiden the Younger, a Reformed minister and Counter-Remonstrant who moved to Amsterdam in 1608. Abraham studied theology at the University of Leiden from 1617, travelled to Heidelberg, Geneva and Paris, and was influenced by Ramism and Jean Daillé. He returned to an appointment as minister in Naarden in 1623, moving to Leiden in 1627.
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Thomas Rawson Birks
1810 - 1883 (73 years)
Thomas Rawson Birks was an English theologian and controversialist, who figured in the debate to try to resolve theology and science. He rose to be Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. His discussions led to much controversy: in one book he proposed that stars cannot have planets as this would reduce the importance of Christ's appearance on this planet.
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Samuel Willard
1640 - 1707 (67 years)
Samuel Willard was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by the Indians during King Philip's War. Willard was pastor of the Third Church, Boston, from 1678 until his death. He opposed the Salem witch trials and was acting president of Harvard University from 1701. He published many sermons; the folio volume, A Compleat Body of Divinity, was published posthumously in 1726.
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John Kaye
1783 - 1853 (70 years)
John Kaye was a British churchman. Early life and education He was born the only son of Abraham Kaye in Hammersmith, London and educated at the school of Sir Charles Burney in Hammersmith and then Greenwich. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge and graduated Senior wrangler in 1804. He was the 21st Master of Christ's College from 1814 to 1830. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1814,
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Herbert Henry Farmer
1892 - 1981 (89 years)
Herbert Henry Farmer was a British Presbyterian minister, philosopher of religion, and academic. Having served in pastoral ministry from 1919 to 1931, he moved into academia as a member of the staff of Hartford Seminary in the United States. After four years, he returned to England where he had been appointed Barbour Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster College, Cambridge in 1935. He was additionally the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge . He retired in 1960, was appointed Emeritus Professor by Westminster Colle...
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Wellesley Tudor Pole
1884 - 1968 (84 years)
Wellesley Tudor Pole OBE was a spiritualist and early British Baháʼí. He authored many pamphlets and books and was a lifelong pursuer of religious and mystical questions and visions, being particularly involved with spiritualism and the Baháʼí Faith as well as the quest for the Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend and founded the Silent Minute campaign, both of which were followed internationally. Some of his visions have been accepted by some people as true. Late in life he resuscitated the Trust running the Chalice Well.
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Gustav Georg Zeltner
1672 - 1738 (66 years)
Gustav Georg Zeltner was a Lutheran theologian. Zeltner wrote numerous theological and historical writings. Life From 1689 to 1694 he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Jena. In 1695 he assumed the position of inspector of the alumni in Altdorf. In 1698 he moved to Nuremberg and worked as a vicar and as a professor of metaphysics at the Aegidianum. Two years later he was appointed deacon at St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg.
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Johann Gramann
1487 - 1541 (54 years)
Johann Gramann or Graumann , also known by his pen name Johannes Poliander, was a German pastor, theologian, teacher, humanist, reformer, and Lutheran leader. Life Gramann was born in Neustadt an der Aisch, Middle Franconia. He worked as rector of the Thomasschule in Leipzig. Poliander was Johann Eck's secretary at the 1519 Leipzig Debate, where he met Martin Luther and joined the Protestant Reformation. Poliander became pastor of Altstadt Church in 1525 in Königsberg , capital of the new Duchy of Prussia , succeeding the fiery Johannes Amandus. The humanist was well-regarded by his peers, including the Catholic Johannes Dantiscus.
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Girolamo Zanchi
1516 - 1590 (74 years)
Girolamo Zanchi was an Italian Protestant Reformation clergyman and educator who influenced the development of Reformed theology during the years following John Calvin's death. Life He was born the son of a noble lawyer and historian, in Alzano Lombardo near Bergamo. His father died in the plague of 1528 and his mother died only three years later. At age 15 he entered the monastery of the Augustinian Order of Regular Canons, where he studied Aristotle, languages and divinity. After completing his studies, he went to Lucca, and there under the influence of Peter Martyr Vermigli he opted for a theological career, being especially impressed by Vermigli's lectures on Romans.
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Berthold of Moosburg
1300 - 1361 (61 years)
Berthold of Moosburg was a German Dominican theologian and neo-Platonist of the 14th century, teaching in Regensburg in 1327. His Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli, written between 1340 and 1361, was a major statement of the importance for Platonism of Proclus. He opposed his Christian-Platonic synthesis to Aristotelian philosophy. His sources included Theodoric of Freiberg and Albertus Magnus.
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Willem Baudartius
1565 - 1640 (75 years)
Willem Baudaert or Wilhelmus Baudartius , born Willem Baudart, was a Dutch theologian. Baudartius College, a Christian secondary school in Zutphen, is named after him. He was the maternal grandfather of Dutch New Netherland colonist and mayor of New York City Wilhelmus Beekman.
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Martin of Cochem
1634 - 1712 (78 years)
Martin of Cochem was a German Capuchin theologian, preacher, and ascetic writer. Life He came from a Catholic family, and while still young entered the novitiate of the Capuchins. After his ordination to the priesthood, he was assigned to a professorship of theology.
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Corderius
1479 - 1564 (85 years)
Corderius , was a French-born theologian, teacher, humanist, and pedagogian active in Geneva, Republic of Geneva. He taught at the School of Lausanne , where he was a director. Studies Cordier was born to a peasant family in La Perrière, Normandy. He completed his theological studies at Paris. Once he was a priest he exercised his ministry at a parish of Ruan and continued his studies, especially focused on grammar.
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Honoré Jozef Coppieters
1874 - 1947 (73 years)
Honoré Jozef Coppieters was a Belgian prelate who became, in 1927, the Bishop of Ghent. Life Honoré Jozef Coppieters was born at Overmere in East Flanders, the eldest son of Benedictus Coppieters and Maria Sidonia Verstraeten. His father was a farmer.
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Edmund Campion
1540 - 1581 (41 years)
Edmund Campion, SJ was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Campion was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on 1 December.
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Anthony Konings
1821 - 1884 (63 years)
Anthony Konings was a Redemptorist professor, who wrote works of theology which influenced Catholic life in late nineteenth century America. After a course in humanities he entered the diocesan seminary. Feeling a call to the monastic life, after mature deliberation he entered in 1842 the Redemptorist novitiate at St. Trond, Belgium, and was permitted to make his religious profession on 6 November 1845. His superiors sent him at once to the house of higher studies to afford him time to prepare for the work of teaching. He was ordained priest in Wittem, on 21 December 1884 . After being engage...
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Paul Wilhelm Schmidt
1845 - 1917 (72 years)
Paul Wilhelm Schmidt was a German theologian who taught mostly in Basel. To this day he is considered one of the most important Swiss representatives of the liberal Protestant direction in theology and church at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
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Ibrahim al-Nazzam
760 - 835 (75 years)
Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Sayyār Ibn Hāni‘ an-Naẓẓām was an Arab Mu'tazilite theologian and poet. He was a nephew of the Mu'tazilite theologian Abu al-Hudhayl al-'Allaf, and al-Jahiz was one of his students. Al-Naẓẓām served at the courts of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun. His theological doctrines and works are lost except for a few fragments.
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Jakob Merten
1809 - 1872 (63 years)
Jakob Merten was a German Catholic theologian born in Wittlich. He studied theology in Trier, where in 1833 he received his ordination. Subsequently, he became a chaplain in Trier, where he worked closely with Franz Peter Knoodt . From 1843 to 1868 he was a professor of philosophy at the Episcopal Seminary in Trier.
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Guido de Bres
1522 - 1567 (45 years)
Guido de Bres was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and theologian, a student of John Calvin and Theodore Beza in Geneva. He was born in Mons, County of Hainaut, Southern Netherlands, and was executed at Valenciennes. De Bres compiled and published the Walloon Confession of Faith known as the Belgic Confession still in use today in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is also used by many Reformed Churches all over the world.
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Morris Joseph
1848 - 1930 (82 years)
Morris David Joseph studied at Jews' College, London, and in 1868 was appointed rabbi of the North London Synagogue; in 1874 he went to the Old Hebrew Congregation of Liverpool, where he officiated as preacher until 1882. He became delegate senior minister of the West London Synagogue in 1893, when David Woolf Marks retired from active service. Joseph published a collection of sermons, The Ideal in Judaism, London, 1893, and a valuable popular work on Jewish theology, Judaism as Creed and Life, in 1903. His position on Jewish religious belief and practice was conservative, midway between Refo...
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Adriaan de Buck
1892 - 1959 (67 years)
Adriaan de Buck was an eminent Dutch Egyptologist. From 1939 he was Professor of Egyptology at Leiden University. Life and work De Buck read theology in Leiden with Pierre Daniel Chantepie de la Saussaye and William Brede Kristensen. He studied several Semitic languages , and specialized in ancient Egyptian which he first read with Pieter Boeser. He then continued his studies in Egyptology in Göttingen and Berlin with Adolf Erman and Kurt Sethe.
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Leopold Ackermann
1771 - 1831 (60 years)
Leopold Ackermann , known by his cloistral name as Petrus Fourerius, was a professor of exegesis. He entered on 10 October 1790 in the choral order of Klosterneuburg and studied from 1791-1795 in Vienna. In the following, he became priest and professor for oriental languages at the Stiftshof in Vienna, in 1800 also librarian. He earned his doctorate in theology in 1802, and in 1806 a professorship in exegesis, continuing for 25 years.
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Karl Bornhäuser
1868 - 1947 (79 years)
Karl Bornhäuser was a German New Testament theologian. He studied theology at the universities of Halle and Greifswald, where he was a student of Hermann Cremer. He worked as a clergyman in Sinsheim and Karlsruhe , and as a regional pastor in Rastatt . In 1902 he became an associate professor of systematic and practical theology at the University of Greifswald, and from 1907 to 1933, he taught classes as a full professor at the University of Marburg. From 1912 onward, he was a member of the consistory in Kassel.
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Johann Georg Conrad Oberdieck
1794 - 1880 (86 years)
Johann Georg Conrad Oberdieck was a German clergyman and pomologist. From 1812 to 1815 he studied theology at the University of Göttingen, and following graduation, served as a subconrector at Michaelisschule in Lüneburg. Several years later he became a pastor in Bardowick, and afterwards worked as an ecclesiastical superintendent in Sulingen and Nienburg/Weser . In 1853 he relocated to the community of Jeinsen as a superintendent.
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Samuel Preiswerk
1799 - 1871 (72 years)
Samuel Preiswerk was a Swiss Reformed Lutheran theologian, pastor and church hymn poet. He is the maternal grandfather of Carl Jung. Biography Preiswerk was born in 1799, in Basel, Switzerland, the son of Alexander Preiswerk and Anna Maria Preiswerk. He studied in Basel and Erlangen. In Biel-Benken in 1822 he found work as a vicar. Two years later he became pastor at an orphanage and in 1828 a teacher in a missionary house. During this period he wrote some hymns, which later lead to international recognition. In 1830 he became a pastor in Muttenz. He was removed as pastor when he refused to conduct pro-revolution prayers.
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William Buell Sprague
1795 - 1876 (81 years)
William Buell Sprague was an American Congregational and Presbyterian clergyman and compiler of Annals of the American Pulpit , a comprehensive biographical dictionary of the leading American Protestant Christian ministers who died before 1850.
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Johann Matthäus Meyfart
1590 - 1642 (52 years)
Johann Matthäus Meyfart, also Johann Matthaeus Meyfahrt, Mayfart was a German Lutheran theologist, educator, academic teacher, hymn writer and minister. He was an opponent fighter of witch trials. Career Meyfart was born in Jena, the son of a minister, and studied at the University of Jena from 1608, first the liberal arts graduating in 1603, then theology, continued at the University of Wittenberg from 1614. He taught from 1617 at the Gymnasium in Coburg, serving as its Rektor from 1623.
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John Craig
1663 - 1731 (68 years)
John Craig was a Scottish mathematician and theologian. Biography Born in Dumfries and educated at the University of Edinburgh, Craig moved to England and became a vicar in the Church of England. A friend of Isaac Newton, he wrote several minor works about the new calculus.
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Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack
1738 - 1817 (79 years)
Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack was Prussian theologian, court preacher, and Church governor. Life Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack was born in Magdeburg in the Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg on 4 September 1738, the eldest son of August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack by his second wife. His mother was descended of a French refugee family, which explains a fondness which Sack had for the French language and literature.
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Johann Michael Feder
1753 - 1824 (71 years)
Johann Michael Feder was a German Roman Catholic theologian. Life He studied in the episcopal seminary of Würzburg from 1772–1777; in the latter year he was ordained priest and promoted to the licentiate in theology. For several years Feder was chaplain of the Julius hospital; in 1785 he was appointed extraordinary professor of theology and Oriental languages at the University of Würzburg. He was created a Doctor of Divinity in 1786; director of the university library 1791, ordinary professor of theology and censor of theological publications, 1795.
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Nathanael Burwash
1839 - 1918 (79 years)
Nathanael Burwash was a Canadian Methodist minister and university administrator. Early life and education Rev. Nathanael Burwash was born in St. Andrews East, Lower Canada, on 25 July 1839, the eldest son of the devout Methodists Adam Burwash and Anne Taylor. He was raised on a farm in Baltimore, Canada , to which his family moved in 1844. In 1859 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Victoria College which was then located in Cobourg, Ontario, and was ordained by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1864. He later studied at Yale College and the Garrett Biblical Institute.
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Girolamo Seripando
1493 - 1563 (70 years)
Girolamo Seripando was an Augustinian friar, Italian theologian and cardinal. Life He was of noble birth, and intended by his parents for the legal profession. After their death, however, at the age of fourteen, he entered the Augustinian Order, at Viterbo, where he studied Greek and Hebrew as well as philosophy and theology.
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Juan Luis Maneiro
1744 - 1802 (58 years)
Juan Luis Maneiro was a Mexican Jesuit teacher, scholar, biographer, theologian, and poet. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish provinces , he went to Italy, where he wrote Latin biographies of illustrious Mexican Jesuits.
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Povilas Jakubėnas
1871 - 1953 (82 years)
Povilas Jakubėnas was a Lithuanian Calvinist clergyman, general superintendent of the Lithuanian branch of the Reformed Church during the interbellum, professor of theology, Lithuanian book smuggler during his student times.
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Juan Crespí
1721 - 1782 (61 years)
Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain in 1749, and accompanied explorers Francisco Palóu and Junípero Serra. In 1767 he went to the Baja California Peninsula and was placed in charge of the Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó.
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Francesco Giorgi
1466 - 1540 (74 years)
Francesco Giorgi Veneto was an Italian Franciscan friar, and author of the work De harmonia mundi totius from 1525. In it Giorgio proposed an idea of the Universe created according to the universal system of proportion, which may be studied as laws of mathematics used by architects. The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy describes him as 'idiosyncratic'. He wrote also In Scripturam Sacram Problemata .
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Cornelius van Steenoven
1661 - 1725 (64 years)
Cornelis van Steenoven was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest who later served as the seventh Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht from 1724 to 1725. Consecrated without the permission of the pope, Steenoven was at the center of the 18th-century controversy between national churches and what many considered to be the overreaching powers of the papacy.
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Edward Cardwell
1787 - 1861 (74 years)
Edward Cardwell was an English theologian also noted for his contributions to the study of English church history. In addition to his scholarly work, he filled various administrative positions in the University of Oxford.
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Otto Flügel
1842 - 1914 (72 years)
Otto Flügel was a German philosopher and theologian. Biography He studied at Schulpforta and Halle, and took up pastoral work. He was made editor of the Zeitschrift für exacte Philosophie im Sinne des Neueren Philosophischen Realismus , and in 1894 was one of the founders of Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Pädagogik. He was a supporter of Herbartian realism, as opposed to New-Kantian speculations, yet he believed in the necessity of a revelation.
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Louis of Granada
1504 - 1588 (84 years)
Louis of Granada, OP , was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. The cause for his canonization has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being Venerable.
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Gustavus Waffelaert
1847 - 1931 (84 years)
Gustave Joseph Waffelaert was the 22nd bishop of Bruges in Belgium. Life Waffelaert was born in Rollegem on 27 August 1847. After attending St Vincent's college, Ypres, and the Minor Seminary, Roeselare he entered the Major Seminary, Bruges. He was ordained to the priesthood in Bruges on 17 December 1870, and from 1871 to 1875 served as an assistant priest in the parish of Blankenberge.
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William of Auvergne
1180 - 1249 (69 years)
William of Auvergne was a French theologian and philosopher who served as Bishop of Paris from 1228 until his death. He was one of the first western European philosophers to engage with and comment extensively upon Aristotelian and Islamic philosophy.
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