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,
#101
Scott Hahn
#5992
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Scott Walker Hahn is an American Catholic theologian and Christian apologist. A former Protestant, Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism, Hahn's popular works include Rome Sweet Home and The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. His lectures have been featured in multiple audio distributions through Lighthouse Catholic Media. Hahn is known for his research on Early Christianity during the Apostolic Age and various theoretical works concerning the early Church Fathers.
Go to Profile#102
Mary Daly
#1807
Overall Influence
1928 - 2010 (82 years)
Mary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing Roman Catholic, she had disavowed Christianity by the early 1970s. Daly retired from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.
Go to Profile#103
Jonathan Z. Smith
#4175
Overall Influence
1938 - 2017 (79 years)
Jonathan Zittell Smith , also known as J. Z. Smith, was an American historian of religions. He was based at the University of Chicago for most of his career. His research included work on such diverse topics as Christian origins, the theory of ritual, Hellenistic religions, Māori cults in the 19th century, and the mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, as well as methodological studies on such common scholarly tools as description, comparison, and interpretation. An essayist, his works include Map Is Not Territory, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritu...
Go to Profile#104
Karl Lehmann
#4288
Overall Influence
1936 - 2018 (82 years)
Karl Lehmann was a German prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016, being elevated to the cardinalate in 2001. He served as chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops from 1987 to 2008, being considered one of the most influential prelates in Germany in those years and a leading proponent of liberal stances within the Church. Before he became a bishop, he worked as professor of theology at the University of Mainz and the University of Freiburg.
Go to Profile#105
Sinclair Ferguson
#13199
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary since 2017, commuting from Scotland, where he was an assistant minister at St. Peter's Free Church of Scotland, Dundee. He is currently a preaching associate at Trinity Church, Aberdeen
Go to Profile#106
Roger E. Olson
#9972
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Roger Eugene Olson is an American Baptist theologian and Professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at the Baylor University. Biography Personal life Olson was born on February 2, 1952, in Des Moines, Iowa. He is married and he and his wife have two daughters and one granddaughter. He is member of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.
Go to Profile#107
Michael Coogan
#6494
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Michael D. Coogan is lecturer on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School, Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum, editor-in-chief of Oxford Biblical Studies Online, and professor emeritus of religious studies at Stonehill College. He has also taught at Fordham University, Boston College, Wellesley College, and the University of Waterloo . Coogan has also participated in and directed archaeological excavations in Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, and Egypt, and has lectured widely.
Go to Profile#108
Raimon Panikkar
#4835
Overall Influence
1918 - 2010 (92 years)
Raimon Panikkar Alemany, also known as Raimundo Panikkar and Raymond Panikkar , was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a proponent of Interfaith dialogue. As a scholar, he specialized in comparative religion.
Go to Profile#109
John Meyendorff
#6171
Overall Influence
1926 - 1992 (66 years)
John Meyendorff was a leading theologian of the Orthodox Church of America as well as a writer and teacher. He served as the dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in the United States until June 30, 1992.
Go to Profile#110
John Macquarrie
#10441
Overall Influence
1919 - 2007 (88 years)
John Macquarrie was a Scottish-born theologian, philosopher and Anglican priest. He was the author of Principles of Christian Theology and Jesus Christ in Modern Thought . Timothy Bradshaw, writing in the Handbook of Anglican Theologians, described Macquarrie as "unquestionably Anglicanism's most distinguished systematic theologian in the second half of the 20th century."
Go to Profile#111
Jack Deere
#13681
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Jack Deere is an American charismatic pastor and theologian. He was an associate professor of Old Testament at Dallas Seminary. In the late 1980s, he abandoned his earlier theological position, announcing that he had experienced the charismatic gifts for himself through the ministry of John Wimber.
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John C. Whitcomb
#5617
Overall Influence
1924 - 2020 (96 years)
John Clement Whitcomb Jr. was an American theologian and young Earth creationist. Along with Henry M. Morris, he wrote The Genesis Flood, which influenced many conservative American Christians to adopt flood geology.
Go to Profile#113
Brevard Childs
#10938
Overall Influence
1923 - 2007 (84 years)
Brevard Springs Childs was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 , who is considered one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century.
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Hector Avalos
#6771
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Hector Avalos was a professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University, cultural anthropologist, and the author of several books on religion. Avalos was an atheist and advocate of secular humanist ethics.
Go to Profile#115
Carl F. H. Henry
#6107
Overall Influence
1913 - 2003 (90 years)
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who provided intellectual and institutional leadership to the neo-evangelical movement in the mid-to-late 20th century. He was ordained in 1942 after graduating from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and went on to teach and lecture at various schools and publish and edit many works surrounding the neo-evangelical movement. His early book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism , was influential in calling evangelicals to differentiate themselves from separatist fundamentalism and claim a role in influencing the wider American culture.
Go to Profile#116
Edmund Clowney
#14992
Overall Influence
1917 - 2005 (88 years)
Edmund Prosper Clowney was a theologian, educator, and pastor. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in 1939, a Bachelor of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1942, a Master of Sacred Theology from Yale Divinity School in 1944, and a Doctor of Divinity from Wheaton College in 1966.
Go to Profile#117
Alford T. Welch
#14888
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Alford T. Welch is a Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. Welch got his Ph.D. degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1970. He also holds a M.Div. degree on Biblical language, literature and Near Eastern history from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Welch's research areas include History of religions, and Arabic and Islamic studies.
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Jan Nattier
#13618
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Jan Nattier is an American scholar of Mahāyana Buddhism. Early life and education She earned her PhD in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies from Harvard University , and subsequently taught at the University of Hawaii , Stanford University , and Indiana University . She then worked as a research professor at the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University before retiring from her position there and beginning a series of visiting professorships at various universities in the U.S.
Go to Profile#119
Kazoh Kitamori
#15273
Overall Influence
1916 - 1998 (82 years)
Kazoh Kitamori was a Japanese theologian, pastor, author, professor, and churchman. His most famous work in the West is The Theology of the Pain of God, which was published in 1946 in Japan and in the United States in 1965. He was a longtime professor at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary. He was, along with Kōsuke Koyama, a leading contributor to Protestant Christian theology from twentieth century Japan.
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Juan Luis Segundo
#8569
Overall Influence
1925 - 1996 (71 years)
Juan Luis Segundo was a Jesuit priest and Uruguayan theologian who was an important figure in the movement known as Latin American liberation theology. He wrote numerous books on theology, ideology, faith, hermeneutics, and social justice, and was an outspoken critic of what he perceived as Church callousness toward oppression and suffering. He was a physician by training.
Go to Profile#121
Helmut Gollwitzer
#10011
Overall Influence
1908 - 1993 (85 years)
Helmut Gollwitzer was a German Protestant theologian and author. Born in Pappenheim, Bavaria, Gollwitzer studied Protestant theology in Munich, Erlangen, Jena and Bonn ; he later completed a doctorate under Karl Barth in Basel , writing on the understanding of the eucharist in Martin Luther and John Calvin.
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John Frame
#10104
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
John Mcelphatrick Frame is a retired American Christian philosopher and Calvinist theologian especially noted for his work in epistemology and presuppositional apologetics, systematic theology, and ethics. He is one of the foremost interpreters and critics of the thought of Cornelius Van Til.
Go to Profile#123
Paul F. Knitter
#12187
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
Paul Francis Knitter is an American theologian. He is currently an emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he has served as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture since 2007. He is also Emeritus Professor of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he taught for 28 years before moving to Union. Knitter is known for his work on religious pluralism and multiple religious belonging, particularly regarding Buddhism and Christianity.
Go to Profile#124
David Tracy
#11902
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
David W. Tracy is an American theologian and Roman Catholic priest. He is Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School. In 2020 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
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Federico Lombardi
#3411
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Federico Lombardi is an Italian Catholic priest and the former director of the Holy See Press Office. He succeeded Joaquín Navarro-Valls and was succeeded by Greg Burke. Lombardi also serves as the postulator for the sainthood cause of Fr Bernardo Mattio.
Go to Profile#126
Gilles Quispel
#4952
Overall Influence
1916 - 2006 (90 years)
Gilles Quispel was a Dutch theologian and historian of Christianity and Gnosticism. He was professor of early Christian history at Utrecht University. Born in Rotterdam, after finishing secondary school in Dordrecht, Quispel studied classical philology from 1934 to 1941 at the Leiden University. At Leiden he also began to study theology, which he continued at the University of Groningen. Quispel completed his doctoral work in 1943 at Utrecht University with a dissertation examining the sources utilized in Tertullian's Adversus Marcionem. He devoted study to several Gnostic systems, particularly Valentinianism.
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Gordon Fee
#10688
Overall Influence
1934 - 2022 (88 years)
Gordon Donald Fee was an American-Canadian Christian theologian who was an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God . He was professor of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Go to Profile#128
Kenneth Gentry
#10170
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. is a Reformed theologian, and an ordained minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly. He is particularly known for his support for and publication on the topics of orthodox preterism and postmillennialism in Christian eschatology, as well as for theonomy and Young Earth creationism. He holds that each of these theological distinctives are logical and theological extensions of his foundational theology.
Go to Profile#129
Mattias Gardell
#4631
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell is a Swedish historian and scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. He was the first Lenin Award laureate in 2009, and received The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Award for Distinguished Research in the Humanities, the Royal Gold Medal, in 2003.
Go to Profile#130
Russell T. McCutcheon
#8840
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Russell Tracey McCutcheon is a Canadian religion scholar who earned a PhD in religious studies from the University of Toronto in 1995. Biography McCutcheon is a professor in the department of religious studies at the University of Alabama, and was department chair from 2001 to 2009. He was an editor of the quarterly periodical Method & Theory in the Study of Religion from 1997 to 2001. In 2005, McCutcheon was elected President of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion, headquartered at Rice University. He is the founder and series editor for the anthology series, Critical Categor...
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Dorothee Sölle
#8370
Overall Influence
1929 - 2003 (74 years)
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle , known as Dorothee Sölle, was a German liberation theologian who coined the term "Christofascism". She was born in Cologne and died at a conference in Göppingen from cardiac arrest.
Go to Profile#132
Rudolf Macúch
#9740
Overall Influence
1919 - 1993 (74 years)
Rudolf Macuch was a Slovak linguist, naturalized as German after 1974. He was noted in the field of Semitic studies for his research work in three main areas: Mandaic studies, Samaritan studies and New Syriac language and literature. Although his scholarly work also covers the far larger range of Arabic and Iranian Studies as well as Theology and History of Religions, most of his monographs, and a large number of his numerous articles, are dedicated to the study of the languages and literatures of ethnic and religious minorities of the Near East, especially the Mandaeans, Samaritans and Nestorian Christians .
Go to Profile#133
Ann Taves
#7153
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Ann Taves is Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a former president of the American Academy of Religion . From July 2005–December 2017, she held the Cordana Chair in Catholic Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Taves is especially known for her work Religious Experience Reconsidered , stressing the importance of the findings and theoretical foundations of cognitive science for modern religionists.
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Albert Mohler
#6752
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Richard Albert Mohler Jr. is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast The Briefing, where he daily analyzes the news and recent events from an evangelical perspective.
Go to Profile#135
James M. Robinson
#6323
Overall Influence
1924 - 2016 (92 years)
James McConkey Robinson was an American scholar who retired as Professor Emeritus of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, specializing in New Testament Studies and Nag Hammadi Studies. He was a member of the Jesus Seminar and arguably the most prominent Q and Nag Hammadi library scholar of the twentieth century. He was also a major contributor to The International Q Project, acting as an editor for most of their publications. Particularly, he laid the groundwork for John S. Kloppenborg's foundational work into the compositional history of Q, by arguing its genre as an ancient wisdom collection.
Go to Profile#136
Chuck Swindoll
#7303
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Charles Rozell Swindoll is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He is currently senior pastor at Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas.
Go to Profile#137
Avery Dulles
#6423
Overall Influence
1918 - 2008 (90 years)
Avery Robert Dulles was an American Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, of the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988, and as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008. He was also an internationally known author and lecturer.
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Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
#1133
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Kirill or Cyril is a Russian Orthodox bishop. He became Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on 1 February 2009. Prior to becoming Patriarch, Kirill was Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, and also Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for External Church Relations. He has been a permanent member of the Holy Synod since 1989.
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Michael Horton
#12548
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
Michael Scott Horton has been the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California since 1998, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Reformation magazine, and President and host of the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, The White Horse Inn. Both Modern Reformation magazine and The White Horse Inn radio broadcast are now entities under the umbrella of White Horse Media.
Go to Profile#140
Frank Turek
#14012
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Frank Turek is an American apologist, author, public speaker, and radio host. He is best known as the founder and president of Christian apologetics ministry CrossExamined.org. Turek co-authored two books with Christian philosopher Norman Geisler. In addition, Turek has authored two of his own books .
Go to Profile#141
J. Dwight Pentecost
#10302
Overall Influence
1915 - 2014 (99 years)
John Dwight Pentecost was an American Christian theologian, best known for his book Things to Come. Pentecost was born in Pennsylvania and died in Dallas, Texas. His wife was Dorothy Harrison Pentecost . John and Dorothy had two daughters: Jane Pentecost Fenby and Gwendolyn Ann Pentecost Arnold.
Go to Profile#142
Bruce Waltke
#9248
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (94 years)
Bruce K. Waltke is an American Reformed evangelical professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. He has held professorships in the Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, and Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Go to Profile#143
Seán Patrick O'Malley
#4318
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Seán Patrick O'Malley is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts since 2003. He is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and was elevated by the Vatican to the rank of cardinal in 2006.
Go to Profile#144
Adam Maida
#7888
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (94 years)
Adam Joseph Maida is an American cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Maida served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1990 to 2009, and was elevated to cardinal in 1994. Maida previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin from 1984 to 1990.
Go to Profile#145
Gerd Lüdemann
#8280
Overall Influence
1946 - 2021 (75 years)
Gerd Lüdemann was a German biblical scholar and historian. He taught first Jewish Christianity and Gnosticism at McMaster University, Canada and then New Testament at Vanderbilt Divinity School, U.S.A. . In 1983, he was appointed to the chair in New Testament Studies in the Evangelical Theological Faculty at the University of Göttingen , Germany, and taught New Testament until 1999. In the same year, his chair in “New Testament” was renamed “History and Literature of Early Christianity” in the Institute for Special Research at the University. Thus, he was removed from the professorship to ...
Go to Profile#146
John Milbank
#4912
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Alasdair John Milbank is an English Anglo-Catholic theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. Milbank previously taught at the University of Virginia and before that at the University of Cambridge and the University of Lancaster. He is also chairman of the trustees of the think tank ResPublica.
Go to Profile#147
Alfons Maria Stickler
#13946
Overall Influence
1910 - 2007 (97 years)
Alfons Maria Stickler was an Austrian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church from 1985 to 1988. Stickler was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985, and was the oldest member of the College of Cardinals. A traditionalist, he was a strong supporter of the Tridentine Mass and clerical celibacy.
Go to Profile#148
Masao Abe
#7764
Overall Influence
1915 - 2006 (91 years)
Masao Abe was a Japanese Buddhist philosopher and religious studies scholar who was emeritus professor at Nara University. He is best known for his work in comparative religion, developing a Buddhist-Christian interfaith dialogue which later also included Judaism. His mature views were developed within the Kyoto School of philosophy. According to Christopher Ives: "Since the death of D. T. Suzuki in 1966, Masao Abe has served as the main representative of Zen Buddhism in Europe and North America."
Go to Profile#149
Roger Mahony
#5417
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (88 years)
Roger Michael Mahony is an American cardinal and retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California from 1985 to 2011. Before his appointment, he served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Fresno from 1975 to 1980 and bishop of the Diocese of Stockton from 1980 to 1985.
Go to Profile#150
Kurt Krenn
#15616
Overall Influence
1936 - 2014 (78 years)
Kurt Krenn was an Austrian Roman Catholic prelate and Bishop of Sankt Pölten, near Vienna, from 1991 to 2004. Childhood and youth Kurt Krenn was born in Rannariedl, in the municipality of Neustift im Mühlkreis in Upper Austria, the second of six children of Karl and Leopoldine Krenn. Krenn's parents had left the church in 1941. Two of their children were unbaptized at the end of World War II. Krenn's father was a teacher and was killed in World War II. After the war, the family rejoined the Catholic Church. Krenn attended elementary school in Oberkappel and graduated from high school at the S...
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