The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
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List of the most influential people in Religious Studies,
#651
Eshin Nishimura
#45916
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (91 years)
Eshin Nishimura is a Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest, the former president of Hanazono University in Kyoto, Japan, and also a major modern scholar in the Kyoto School of thought. A current professor of the Department of Buddhism at Hanazono University, he has lectured at universities throughout the world on the subject of Zen Buddhism. The author of many books, most written in the Japanese language, Nishimura has been a participant in many dialogues on the relationship of Zen to Christianity and Western philosophy.
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Uri Rubin
#32270
Overall Influence
1944 - 2021 (77 years)
Uri Rubin was an Israeli academic who was a professor in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University. His areas of research were early Islam , Qur'an exegesis , and early Islamic tradition . He authored a number of books on the subjects and also contributed entries to the Encyclopaedia of Islam and other works.
Go to Profile#653
Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
#38038
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
Francis Schüssler Fiorenza is an American theologian who currently holds the post of Charles Chancey Stillman Research Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School. Biography Born Francis Fiorenza in 1941, as a young man he entered St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland, from which he earned the degree of Master of Divinity, even though he did not intend to pursue ordination. In 1963 he won a fellowship to study theology in Germany under the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner at the University of Munich. Because that university would not accept docto...
Go to Profile#654
Allan Harman
#45396
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (88 years)
Allan Macdonald Harman, is an Australian Presbyterian theologian and Old Testament scholar. He has been described as a "well-known and highly regarded figure in Christian and especially evangelical circles within Australia and overseas."
Go to Profile#655
Markus Bockmuehl
#43224
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Markus Bockmuehl is a biblical scholar specialising in Early Christianity. He has been the Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford since 2014, and a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, since 2007.
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Thomas Groome
#42367
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Thomas H. Groome is an author and a professor in theology and religious education at Boston College. Groome has been critical of the Catholic Church's stance on clerical celibacy. Biography Professor Groome has a doctoral degree from Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University. He has taught at seminaries in several countries. Books have been published about his teaching in several languages. In 1998–99, Groome was president of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education . As of 2014, he is a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College. He chair...
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Eamon Martin
#25300
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Eamon Columba Martin KC*HS is an Irish Catholic prelate from Northern Ireland who has served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland since 2014. Early life and education Martin was born in Pennyburn, Derry, on 30 October 1961, one of twelve children to John James Martin and his wife Catherine . He attended primary school at St Patrick's Primary School, Pennyburn, and secondary school at St Columb's College.
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Robert M. Bowman Jr.
#53184
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Robert M. Bowman Jr. is an American Evangelical Christian theologian specializing in the study of apologetics. Biography Bowman received the M.A. in Biblical Studies and Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1981, did doctoral studies in Christian Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, and earned his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at the South African Theological Seminary. From 2006 to 2008 he was the manager of Apologetics and Interfaith Evangelism for the North American Mission Board , an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. From 2008 to 2018 he served as the executive director of the Institute for Religious Research, an independent, evangelical nonprofit organization .
Go to Profile#659
Chung Hyun Kyung
#35248
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Chung Hyun Kyung is a South Korean Christian theologian. She is a lay theologian of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and is also an Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the United States.
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Brant J. Pitre
#40958
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (49 years)
Brant James Pitre is an American New Testament scholar and Distinguished Research Professor of Scripture at the Augustine Institute. He has written extensively on the historical Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Paul the Apostle, the origin of the Eucharist, and the canonical Gospels.
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Prathia Hall
#19068
Overall Influence
1940 - 2002 (62 years)
Prathia Laura Ann Hall Wynn was an American leader and activist in the Civil Rights Movement, a womanist theologian, and ethicist. She was the key inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
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Derek Tidball
#49129
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
Derek John Tidball is a British theologian, sociologist of religion, and Baptist minister. From 1995 to 2007 he was the principal of London Bible College which later took the name London School of Theology.
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Carl Braaten
#42592
Overall Influence
1929 - Present (95 years)
Carl Edward Braaten was an American Lutheran theologian and minister. Braaten authored and edited numerous books and theological papers, including Principles of Lutheran Theology , Mother Church: Ecclesiology and Ecumenism and In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity . Along with Robert Jenson, was an influential figure in developing and restoring the catholic roots of Lutheranism at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
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Morna Hooker
#38227
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (93 years)
Morna Dorothy Hooker is a British theologian and New Testament scholar. Early life and education Morna Hooker was born in Beddington on 19 May 1931. She went to Bristol University where she graduated with first class honours in theology, and then earned her MA. She worked for a PhD degree at the University of Manchester, then at the University of Durham.
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Margaret M. Mitchell
#40803
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Margaret M. Mitchell is an American biblical scholar and professor of early Christianity. She is currently Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Mitchell received her doctorate at the same institution in 1989, under the supervision of Hans Dieter Betz and Robert McQueen Grant. She also served as dean of the Divinity School from 2010 to 2015.
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Olegario González de Cardedal
#33607
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Olegario González de Cardedal is a Spanish Catholic theologian and author. He was born in Lastra del Cano , Spain, in 1934. He studied in Ávila, where he was ordained a priest in 1959, and at the University of Munich, Germany, where he graduated in theology in 1964. He also continued his studies in Oxford and Washington. As Chair of Theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain, a position he still holds, he took part in the third session of the Second Vatican Council and in the International Theological Conference. He is also an ordinary member of the Spanish Real Academia de Cie...
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Stephen E. Robinson
#37030
Overall Influence
1948 - 2018 (70 years)
Stephen Edward Robinson was a religious scholar and apologist, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Biography Stephen E. Robinson was born and raised in Southern California and served a two-year mission for the LDS Church in the Northern States Mission . In 1972, he married Janet Bowen , and they have six children. He has been a member of the faculty at Brigham Young University since 1986, and he was appointed chairman of the Department of Ancient Scripture there in 1990. Robinson received a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the BYU Honors Program in 1971, graduating with "High Honors with Distinction." He received a Ph.D.
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Raimondo Spiazzi
#49704
Overall Influence
1918 - 2002 (84 years)
Raimondo Spiazzi OP was an Italian Catholic theologian, advisor to Pius XII, and Mariologist with over 2,500 publications. Early Biography Spiazzi was born in Moneglia, province of Genoa. Formation He met Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli in 1937, who left a major impression on him and facilitated his entry in the seminary. 25 March 1944, he was ordained to the priesthood. During the war years he taught religion in a secondary school in Turin. After the war, he studied at the Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, ...
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Heiner Wilmer
#22338
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Heiner Wilmer, SCJ is a German Catholic prelate who has served as the Bishop of Hildesheim since 2018. He was formerly the superior general of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart . Biography Wilmer grew up on a farm in Emsland. In 1980 he graduated at the Leoninum, a high school operated by the Dehonians in Handrup close to his hometown. In the same year, he entered the novitiate of the congregation in Freiburg. From 1981 to 1986 he studied theology in Freiburg and romance philology in Paris. After that he was ordained as priest by Archbishop Oskar Saier, the archbishop of Freiburg.
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Jean-Claude Hollerich
#33893
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J. is a Luxembourger prelate of the Catholic Church, who has served as the Archbishop of Luxembourg since 2011. He was the president of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union from March 2018 to 2023.
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Craig S. Keener
#33920
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Craig S. Keener is a North American academic, Biblical scholar and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. Biography Early Life Keener was born on 4 July 1960. Education In 1982, Keener got his B.A. from the Central Bible College . He got his M.A. in 1982 and M.Div. in 1987 at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary . In 1991, he received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies and Christian Origins from Duke University.
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Donald G. Bloesch
#44087
Overall Influence
1928 - 2010 (82 years)
Donald George Bloesch was an American evangelical theologian. For more than 40 years, he published scholarly yet accessible works that generally defend traditional Protestant beliefs and practices while seeking to remain in the mainstream of modern Protestant theological thought. His seven-volume Christian Foundations series has brought him recognition as an important American theologian.
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Braulio Rodríguez Plaza
#57070
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Braulio Rodríguez Plaza is a Spanish Catholic prelate, who was Metropolitan Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain from 16 April 2009 to 27 December 2019. A bishop since 1987, he was Metropolitan Archbishop of Valladolid from 2002 to 2009.
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Günter Lüling
#43778
Overall Influence
1928 - 2014 (86 years)
Günter Lüling was a German Protestant theologian, philological scholar and pioneer in the study of early Islamic origins. From 1962 to 1965 he was the Director of the German Goethe-Institut in Aleppo, Syria.
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Louis-Albert Vachon
#32557
Overall Influence
1912 - 2006 (94 years)
Louis-Albert Vachon, was a Canadian educator, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and Archbishop of Quebec. He became a cardinal on May 25, 1985. History Vachon was born and raised in Saint-Frédéric, Quebec, one of a family of six. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Minor Seminary of Quebec in 1934 and studied theology at the Major Seminary of Quebec before being ordained by Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Cardinal Villeneuve on June 11, 1938. He then attended Université Laval, graduating in 1941 with a PhD in philosophy. He taught philosophy at Université Laval from 1941 to 1947, then beg...
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Joachim Gnilka
#46481
Overall Influence
1928 - 2018 (90 years)
Joachim Gnilka was a German Roman Catholic theologian, New Testament scholar, exegete, and professor. Biography Gnilka studied Catholic theology, Christian philosophy, and Oriental languages in Eichstätt, Würzburg, and Rome from 1947 to 1953. From 1953 to 1956 he served as chaplain in Würzburg. In 1955, Gnilka earned a Doctorate of Theology . In 1959, he earned a habilitation, and from 1959 to 1962 was Privatdozent at the University of Würzburg. From 1962 to 1975, he was professor of New Testament at the University of Münster. From 1975 to 1997, he was professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
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Timothy T. O'Donnell
#38546
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Timothy Terrance O'Donnell is an academic and Catholic theologian and the current president of Christendom College, located in Front Royal, Virginia. Biography O'Donnell received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, Italy, in 1981 with a dissertation entitled A study in the relationship between doctrine and spirituality : the contemporary and perennial value of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He is the first layman to receive a licentiate and a doctorate in Ascetical and Mystical Theology from the Angelicum.
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Pierre Grelot
#59804
Overall Influence
1917 - 2009 (92 years)
Pierre Grelot was a French Roman Catholic priest, biblical scholar and theologian. He had an expert knowledge of aramaic and was a specialist in Paul's letters. Biography Grelot studied at St. Louis School, in Montargis. He decided to follow religious life and he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1941. He became a teacher at the Seminary of Orléans and afterwards at the Institut Catholique de Paris, from 1961 to 1983. He became an honorary teacher of the Institute in 1985.
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Andrés Torres Queiruga
#26629
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (84 years)
Andrés Torres Queiruga is a Galician theologian, writer and translator. He studied in Santiago de Compostela and Comillas Pontifical University. He is a doctor in Theology and Philosophy. Queiruga lectures Theology at the Instituto Teolóxico compostelá and philosophy of religion at the University of Santiago de Compostela. A member of the Real Academia Galega and the Consello da Cultura Galega, he was a founder of the magazine Encrucillada: Revista Galega de Pensamento Cristián, nowadays he is director of the Asociación Encrucillada. He is a staff member of the magazines Iglesia Viva, Sal Ter...
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Virgilio Elizondo
#37227
Overall Influence
1935 - 2016 (81 years)
Virgilio P. Elizondo was a Mexican-American Catholic priest and community activist, who was also a leading scholar of liberation theology and Hispanic theology. He was widely regarded as "the father of U.S. Latino religious thought."
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Olav Fykse Tveit
#32770
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Olav Fykse Tveit is a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and bishop, and the current Preses of the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway. He was elected to the post of general secretary of the World Council of Churches on 27 August 2009. He entered office on 1 January 2010, for a proposed term of five years, and was re-elected to a second term in July 2014. He resigned from the post in March 2020, having been elected Preses of the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway.
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Michael Goulder
#39874
Overall Influence
1927 - 2010 (83 years)
Michael Douglas Goulder was a British biblical scholar who spent most of his academic life at the University of Birmingham where he retired as Professor of Biblical Studies in 1994. He was perhaps best known for his contributions to the Synoptic Problem, and specifically the Farrer hypothesis, which postulates Markan priority but dispenses with the Q document, suggesting instead that Luke knew the contents of Matthew. Goulder was also associated with the theory that the evangelists were highly creative authors, and that Matthew and Luke had only minimal source material. In recent years, he w...
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Harvie M. Conn
#44276
Overall Influence
1933 - 1999 (66 years)
Harvie Maitland Conn was professor of missions at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Biography Conn was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and studied at Calvin College and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was a missionary in South Korea prior to his appointment at WTS and also served as editor of Urban Mission. Conn was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
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Jeff Cavins
#57240
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Jeff Cavins is an American Catholic evangelist, author, and biblical scholar. Overview Cavins was a Protestant pastor before he rejoined the Catholic Church. He is the creator of The Great Adventure Bible Study program. He was the founding host of the Television Show Life on the Rock on EWTN and was a host of the Morning Air radio program on Relevant Radio. He resides in Minnesota.
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Douglas Stuart
#39139
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
Douglas K. Stuart is Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an interdenominational Evangelical Seminary. Life Stuart received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1964, spent two years at Yale Divinity School, and in 1971 received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from Harvard University, on meter in Hebrew Poetry.
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Donald Guthrie
#17889
Overall Influence
1916 - 1992 (76 years)
Donald Guthrie was a British New Testament scholar, best known for his New Testament Introduction and New Testament Theology which are recognized as significant books related to the New Testament.
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John Sailhamer
#46214
Overall Influence
1946 - 2017 (71 years)
John Herbert Sailhamer was an American professor of Old Testament studies at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California. He was president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2000 and made notable contributions to Old Testament studies.
Go to Profile#688
Patriarch Daniel of Romania
#26067
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Daniel is the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The elections took place on 12 September 2007. Daniel won with a majority of 95 votes out of 161 against Bartolomeu Anania. He was officially enthroned on 30 September 2007 in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. As such, his official title is "Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrogea, Locum tenens of the throne of Caesarea of Cappadocia, Patriarch of All Romania".
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Tomislav Ivančić
#44355
Overall Influence
1938 - 2017 (79 years)
Tomislav Ivančić was a Croatian theologian and academic. Biography Ivančić was born in Davor. After the study of philosophy and theology in Zagreb and Rome he was ordained priest of the Zagreb Archdiocese in 1966. After achieving a doctorate at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to Zagreb to become professor at the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the University of Zagreb. He was head of the Chair of Fundamental Theology, one of the editors of the magazine “Bogoslovska smotra” , member of the editorial boards and associate of many Croatian and foreign theology magazines and member of the Croatian Literary Translators’ Association.
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Michael J. Gorman
#46434
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Michael J. Gorman is an American New Testament scholar. He is the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and University, where he has taught since 1991. From 1995 to 2012 he was dean of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute.
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R. Joseph Hoffmann
#15878
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Raymond Joseph Hoffmann is a historian whose work has focused on the early social and intellectual development of Christianity. His work includes an extensive study of the role and dating of Marcion in the history of the New Testament, as well the reconstruction and translation of the writings of early pagan opponents of Christianity: Celsus, Porphyry and Julian the Apostate. As a senior vice president for the Center for Inquiry, he chaired the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, CSER, where he initiated the Jesus Project, a scholarly investigation into the historicity of Jesus.
Go to Profile#692
Tarcisio Bertone
#34229
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal since 2003, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop of Genoa from 2002 to 2006, and as Cardinal Secretary of State from 2006 to 2013. On 10 May 2008, he was named Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati.
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Norman Pittenger
#42182
Overall Influence
1905 - 1997 (92 years)
William Norman Pittenger was an Anglican minister, teacher, and theologian. He wrote about and promoted process theology, and became one of the first acknowledged Christian defenders for the open acceptance of homosexual relations among Christians. He served as Vice-Chairman and the Chairman of the Theological Commission of the World Council of Churches from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. He lived most of his life in the United States, though from 1966 until his death he lived at King's College at Cambridge University as an honorary member of the university.
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C. K. Barrett
#47309
Overall Influence
1917 - 2011 (94 years)
Charles Kingsley Barrett was a British biblical scholar and Methodist minister. He served as Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham and wrote commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
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Shlomo Riskin
#9035
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (84 years)
Shlomo Riskin is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; former dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel.
Go to Profile#696
Parker Palmer
#5484
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
Parker J. Palmer is an American author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He has published ten books and numerous essays and poems, and is founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage and Renewal. His work has been recognized with major foundation grants, several national awards, and thirteen honorary doctorates.
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Lothar Zenetti
#39134
Overall Influence
1926 - 2019 (93 years)
Lothar Zenetti was a German Catholic theologian, priest, and author of books and poetry. In Frankfurt, he was both a minister for young people and a parish priest. He was also active on radio and television. His songs, for example the popular "Das Weizenkorn muss sterben" and "Segne dieses Kind", appear in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals.
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Robert M. Grant
#31445
Overall Influence
1917 - 2014 (97 years)
Robert McQueen Grant was an American academic theologian and the Carl Darling Buck Professor Emeritus of Humanities and of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chicago . His scholarly work focused on the New Testament and Early Christianity.
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Kwok Pui-lan
#46972
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Kwok Pui-lan is a Hong Kong-born feminist theologian known for her work on Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology. Academic life and career Kwok was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents who practiced Chinese folk religion at home. She converted to Anglican Christianity when she was a teenager.
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J. Rodman Williams
#34180
Overall Influence
1918 - 2008 (90 years)
J. Rodman Williams , regarded as the father of modern renewal theology, was a Presbyterian charismatic theologian and professor of renewal theology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born on August 21, 1918, in Clyde, North Carolina, Williams earned an AB from Davidson College, a BD and ThM from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, and a PhD in philosophy of religion and ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York, taking time in between to serve as a chaplain in the United States Marine Corps . He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1943 and served as a pastor for several years before becoming a full-time educator.
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