Search People Result | Academic Influence

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.

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List of the most influential people in Religious Studies,

#2251

Stephen N. Williams

#128781

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Stephen Nantlais Williams is a Welsh Presbyterian theologian, author and lecturer who, after retiring from a teaching career was appointed Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen's University Belfast in 2017.

#2252

Leona G. Running

#126105

Overall Influence

1916 - 2014 (98 years)

Leona Rachel Glidden Running was the first Seventh-day Adventist woman to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She was also the first female to join the faculty of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in 1955 at Takoma Park, Maryland, and later when the Seminary relocated to the campus of Andrews University.

#2253

George Karakunnel

#171917

Overall Influence

George Karakunnel is an Indian theologian. He is a Catholic priest of the Eparchy of Kothamangalam. He teaches systematic theology in St. Joseph's Pontifical Institute, Mangalapuzha, Aluva, Kerala, India. He has a Doctorate in theology from Gregorian University, Rome. He also has a Master's Degree in the Philosophy of Religions from the University of London. He is a member of the International Theological Commission in Vatican.

#2254

Ezra Chitando

#110773

Overall Influence

Ezra Chitando is a Zimbabwean religion Academic. He is Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe, in Harare, Zimbabwe. He serves as Theology Consultant on HIV and AIDS with EHAIA, the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy, of the World Council of Churches. In this capacity, he has engaged in gender activism, specifically concerned with transforming socio-cultural and religious notions of masculinity.

#2255

Paul D. Murray

#155398

Overall Influence

1964 - Present (60 years)

Paul D. Murray is a British theologian. He is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at Durham University's Department of Theology and Religion, and he is the founding Dean-Director of Durham's Centre for Catholic Studies , the only established academic unit dedicated to Catholic studies located within a British public institution. A prolific author and editor, he was Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Theology , President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain and he has also worked with the American Academy of Religion, the world's largest scholarly organisation in the field.

#2256

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

#133947

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is an author, former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, a syndicated columnist, ordained minister, activist, theologian, and translator of the Bible. She is currently an emeritus faculty member at Chicago Theological Seminary. She also spent some of her time serving as a trustee for different organizations.

#2257

M. Thomas Thangaraj

#178006

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

M. Thomas Thangaraj is an Indian theologian and psalmist. He is the former D.W. and Ruth Brooks Professor Emeritus of World Christianity of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Thangaraj is currently serving as a Visiting Professor of World Christianity at Boston University School of Theology.

#2258

Kjell Aartun

#46327

Overall Influence

1925 - 2023 (98 years)

Kjell Aartun was a Norwegian theologian and linguist. He was considered a leading expert on Semitic languages, particularly the Ugaritic language. He was also known for several controversial theories on runic interpretation and the origin of Minoan civilization. Aartun received a government scholarship in 1983 and received HM The King's Medal of Merit in Gold for his scientific work in 2001. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1986.

#2259

Zairema

#120354

Overall Influence

1917 - 2008 (91 years)

Zairema was a Presbyterian minister, and a pioneer in theology and literature among the Mizo people of northeast India. He was the first Mizo to obtain the degrees of BSc and BD. He died of cardiac problem on the morning of 17 December 2008 at his residence in Aizawl at the age of 91. He is best remembered as the "father of Mizoram Synod".

#2260

Felix Stephens

#139836

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

The Revd Dom Felix Stephens, OSB was Master of St Benet's Hall, Oxford from 2007 to 2012. Born as John Patrick Rhodes Stephens, he was educated at Ampleforth College, where he was a member of St Hugh's House, and at St Benet's Hall, Oxford. During this time, he played three first-class cricket matches for Oxford University Cricket Club as a right-handed opening or upper order batsman.

#2261

David N. Hempton

#54945

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

David Neil Hempton is a Northern Irish historian of evangelicalism, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

#2262

John S. Pobee

#111668

Overall Influence

1937 - 2020 (83 years)

John Samuel Pobee was a Ghanaian Christian theologian and former Vicar General of the Anglican Diocese of Accra, Ghana. Biography Pobee studied at Adisadel College , the University of Ghana , and Selwyn College, Cambridge . He completed his priestly training at Westcott House, Cambridge . He was Emeritus Professor at the University of Ghana, where he previously taught and served as Head of Department for the Study of Religions and Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

#2263

Allu Rajarathnam

#175191

Overall Influence

1941 - 2019 (78 years)

Bishop A. Rajarathnam was Bishop - in - Dornakal Diocese of the Church of South India and the sixth in succession. Like his predecessor D. N. Samuel, Rajarathnam also studied at the Andhra Union Theological College , Dornakal in 1963 but within a year, he moved along with the College to Rajahmundry as the AUTC together with other Seminaries formed the Andhra Christian Theological College in Rajahmundry in 1964. Rajarathnam was awarded a Licentiate in Theology in 1966 and upgraded his academics by pursuing a Bachelor of Theology as well as a Bachelor of Divinity degree through the Andhra Christian Theological College which by then relocated to its present campus in Hyderabad.

#2264

Mary Ann Beavis

#160563

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Mary Ann Beavis is a professor emerita, St. Thomas More College, the University of Saskatchewan. She co-founded the peer-reviewed academic journal, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, together with Helen Hye-Sook Hwang in 2021.

#2265

P. A. Sampath Kumar

#148511

Overall Influence

1951 - 2015 (64 years)

P. Antonyraj Sampath Kumar was an Indian New Testament scholar who was the President of the Society for Biblical Studies in India, and was the Escande Chair of Asian Christian Studies at Pondicherry University and was the Chief Warden of the Pondicherry University Hostels. He was a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

#2266

YoungSang Ro

#132146

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

YoungSang Ro is a Korean theologian in the field of Christian ethics as well as a Protestant pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Korea . He was a longtime professor and President at Honam Theological University and Seminary, and professor and dean of theological seminary at Presbyterian University & Theological Seminary. In the fall of 2017, he also assumed a professor at Baekseok University. He is considered to be one of the important theologians in Korea who was named in Marquis Who’s Who in the World, 2018. He specializes in Christian ethics, Christian culture, and Korean unification research.

#2267

Catherine Hezser

#92235

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (64 years)

Catherine Hezser is Professor of Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She specialises in rabbinic Judaism, the early history of Judaism in the Near Middle East, and the social history of the Jews in Roman Palestine during late antiquity.

#2268

John T. Willis

#124444

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (91 years)

John Thomas Willis was an Old Testament scholar. He was a Professor of Old Testament at Abilene Christian University, where he taught the Hebrew Prophets, Psalms, Pentateuch, OT Exegesis and Biblical Hebrew. He is the author of 30 books and over 100 scholarly articles including commentaries on Genesis, 1–2 Samuel and Isaiah in the Living Word Commentary series. He was also a translator of the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament for Eerdman's.

#2269

William O'Malley

William O'Malley

#150236

Overall Influence

1931 - 2023 (92 years)

William J. O'Malley S.J. was an American author and actor. He was born in Buffalo, New York, and attended Canisius High School there. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1953. Life William O'Malley taught Advanced Placement English and theology for 22 years at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, New York. He also directed the school's musical and drama productions.

#2270

Mary Matz

#170679

Overall Influence

1931 - 2013 (82 years)

Mary Matz was a Pennsylvania theologian who became the first woman ordained by the Moravian Church in North America. She also served as a vice president of the Moravian National Council of Churches.

#2271

G. D. Melanchthon

G. D. Melanchthon

#172453

Overall Influence

1934 - 1994 (60 years)

G. D. Melanchthon was a Silver Jubilee Priest hailing from Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society who taught Religions, at United Theological College, Bangalore from 1968 till the latter half of eighties until his career was brought to an abrupt end in 1988 on being stricken with paralysis. Melanchthon used to be quite active among the academic community along with Chrysostom Arangaden, Arvind P. Nirmal and others in not only delivering scholarly talks, but also in contributing research articles and reviewing new titles.

#2272

Grace Jantzen

#41983

Overall Influence

1948 - 2006 (58 years)

Grace Marion Jantzen was a Canadian feminist philosopher and theologian. She was professor of religion, culture and gender at Manchester University from 1996 until her death from cancer at the age of 57.

#2273

Edir Macedo

#134264

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Edir Macedo is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God . He is the owner and chairman of the third-largest television network in Brazil, Record, along with Grupo Record since 1989, which he founded after he bought the network.

#2274

Sister Susan Rose Francois

#118613

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (52 years)

Susan Rose Francois is a perpetually professed Roman Catholic sister of the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. She is an author, columnist, and blogger on religious life and social justice. She has been active in the Nuns on the Bus movement, and came to the attention of mainstream media because of her daily practice of tweeting a prayer to US President Donald Trump.

#2275

Camille Fronk Olson

#85988

Overall Influence

Camille Fronk Olson is a retired professor and former chair of Brigham Young University's Department of Ancient Scripture in Religious Education and a scholar who has written multiple books on the role of women in the scriptures. She has also spoken widely in various forums on Latter-day Saint beliefs, especially as they relate to women.

#2276

Carmen Bernabé Ubieta

#178127

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Carmen Bernabé Ubieta is a theologian, specialising in biblical theology, including Joanic Studies, Early Christianity, and Women and Christianity. Since 1990, Bernabé is a lecturer in Theology at the Universidad de Deusto, in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.

#2277

Hansjürg Stückelberger

#134824

Overall Influence

1930 - Present (94 years)

Hansjürg Stückelberger is a Swiss writer and pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church. He studied theology in Zurich, Basel, Göttingen and Paris and ministered as pastor in several Swiss towns. In the 1970s he organized demonstrations against the persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union. Ten thousands of people attended these silent demonstrations in Zurich and Bern. In 1977 he founded Christian Solidarity International and in 2006 Zukunft CH of which he was president until 2018. His book Europas Aufstieg und Verrat - Eine christliche Deutung der Geschichte appeared in 2011. He published 2020 his other book Freiheit, Demokratie und christliche Werte - Liebe heilt die Gesellschaft .

#2278

Christian Howard

#178742

Overall Influence

1916 - 1999 (83 years)

Dame Rosemary Christian Howard , a British Christian theologian, was one of the five children of Geoffrey William Algernon Howard and his wife, Ethel Christian Howard. She was awarded the honorary degree of Lambeth Master of Arts by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

#2279

Pavlos D. Vasileiadis

#162194

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (50 years)

Pavlos D. Vasileiadis is a Greek biblical scholar. His research is focused on biblical theology and biblical translation, with emphasis on the textual criticism of the New Testament and the research of the diachronic reception of the Tetragrammaton in Greek literature. He has been an author of the Μεγάλη Ορθόδοξη Χριστιανική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια [Great Orthodox Christian Encyclopedia]. For over two decades he has been an educational professional in the field of information technology.

#2280

Yona Reiss

#41932

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Yona Reiss is an American rabbi, Torah scholar, attorney, lecturer, and jurist, and the current Av Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council . From 2008 to 2013 Reiss was the Max and Marion Grill Dean of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary . From 1998 to 2008 he was Director of the Beth Din of America .

#2281

Benjamin Yudin

#122987

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (80 years)

Benjamin Yudin is an American rabbi and important figure in the New Jersey Jewish community. Biography Rabbi Yudin lives in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he is the rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Torah. He is an instructor of Talmud, Bible, and Jewish Law at the Mechina program of the James Striar School of Yeshiva University's Undergraduate Jewish Studies program, where he formerly served as dean.

#2282

Franz Jozef van Beeck

#120818

Overall Influence

1930 - 2011 (81 years)

Frans Jozef Van Beeck or Franz Jozef van Beeck, also known as Joep van Beeck , was a Dutch author and Christian theologian who was also a prominent priest of the Society of Jesus. Born in Helmond, Netherlands, he entered the Jesuit religious order in 1948 after studies at the Jesuit Aloysius College in The Hague. He received a doctorate in English from the University of Amsterdam in 1961 and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1963. From 1968 to 1985, Van Beeck taught theology at Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts. He then moved to Loyola University Chicago in Chicago, Illinois where he served as John Cardinal Cody Professor of Theology until his retirement in 2002.

#2283

Andries van Aarde

#179581

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (73 years)

Andries van Aarde is an honorary professor of theology and a research fellow at the University of Pretoria. He is also an ordained minister in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa. He has shown interest in the Historical Jesus debate.

#2284

E. Brooks Holifield

#168179

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

E. Brooks Holifield is an American religious historian and the Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of American Church History at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, where he taught until his retirement in 2011. He has been called "a giant among historians of religion."

#2285

Kim Yong-Bock

#169285

Overall Influence

1938 - 2022 (84 years)

Kim Yong-Bock was a Korean Presbyterian and founding father of minjung theology. Biography Born in Cholla province, his father died of tuberculosis when he was six years old. Along with his mother and younger sister, Kim lived with his uncle and aunt, the latter of whom was a Christian and introduced him to church. Although he considered studying theology at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, he pursued a BA in philosophy at Yonsei University . During this time, he participated in the April 19 Revolution and was imprisoned for forty days. After completing his military service, he went to Princeton Theological Seminary and completed an MDiv and a PhD .

#2286

Gretchen Rehberg

#102538

Overall Influence

Gretchen Mary Rehberg is the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. Early life and education Rehberg was born in Pullman, Washington on July 7, 1964. Her mother, Margaret Rehberg was a homemaker and her father, Wallace Rehberg, was a professor at Washington State University. The family had a small farm outside of town. After graduating from Pullman High School in 1982, Rehberg attended Sewanee: The University of the South.

#2287

M. Cathleen Kaveny

#88076

Overall Influence

#2288

Heinz Gstrein

#171606

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (83 years)

Heinz Gstrein is an Austrian-Swiss Orientalist Orthodox theologian, foreign correspondent, non-fiction author and a lecturer at the University of Vienna. Life Gstrein was born in Innsbruck. He studied Oriental Studies, Slavic Studies and Theology in Innsbruck, Istanbul, Vienna and Paris. He graduated as a doctor phil. He was a foreign correspondent for many years in the Middle East, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, where he reported for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the Swiss Radio DRS. This was followed by scientific activities in Zurich and Vienna. He was also Deputy Director of the Institute G2W Faith in the 2nd World in Zurich.

#2289

Kendall Harmon

#130281

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (64 years)

Kendall S. Harmon , is a writer and priest of the Anglican Church in North America. Formerly a leading traditional theologian with the Episcopal Church, Harmon is known for his activity, writing, and commentary on matters related to homosexuality and the Anglican church in the years prior to, during, and following the schism of the Episcopal Church and the subsequent formation of the Anglican Church in North America.

#2290

Jonathan Hill

#108103

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (48 years)

Jonathan Hill was born in Margate, East Kent, England, on 30 March 1976. He is a British theologian and the author of several books that present a complex analysis of the history of Christianity and the history of Christian theology in a global perspective, with a particular focus on the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. His field of academic research deals with philosophical theology and seventeenth-century philosophy, particularly Gottfried Leibniz.

#2291

Jack Provonsha

#139384

Overall Influence

1919 - 2004 (85 years)

Jack Wendell Provonsha was a Seventh-day Adventist Physician and ethicist. Biography He was born on May 30, 1919. He was an emeritus professor of Christian ethics and philosophy of religion at Loma Linda University. He was also the founding director of the Center for Christian Bioethics at the university. He died on August 11, 2004.

#2292

Cristina Rocha

#83276

Overall Influence

Cristina Rocha is a Brazilian-Australian Professor of anthropology at Western Sydney University. She works at the intersection between globalisation, migration and religion. She has written on Buddhism, New Age spirituality and most recently on pentecostalism.

#2293

Michel Leplay

#169551

Overall Influence

1927 - 2020 (93 years)

Michel Leplay was a French Protestant pastor. He was the director of the weekly newspaper Réforme, and was honored with the Amitié judéo-chrétienne de France prize in 2017. Biography The son of Norman merchants, Leplay was involved in Scouting throughout his youth, and worked with the Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs Unionistes de France. At age 15, he decided he would become a pastor.

#2294

Filippo Santoro

Filippo Santoro

#171549

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Filippo Santoro is an Italian Roman Catholic prelate. He was made archbishop of Taranto in 2011. In 2023, he resigned as archbishop

#2295

Denis Farkasfalvy

#115816

Overall Influence

1936 - 2020 (84 years)

Denis Farkasfalvy was a Hungarian-American Catholic priest and monk of the Cistercian Order. He was an abbot, theologian, author and translator. Biography Flight from Hungary, theological studies, and priestly ordination His baptismal name was Miklós; his father was a mechanical engineer. As a schoolboy he attended the school run by Cistercian priests in his home town of Székesfehérvár, Hungary. After it was closed down by the communist government during the Second Hungarian Republic, in 1948 he transferred to the famous school run by Benedictines in Pannonhalma. He graduated in 1954 and bec...

#2296

Bogumił Gacka

#180055

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Bogumił Zygmunt Gacka is a Catholic priest, member of the Marian Fathers and the Professor of Christian Personalism at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland. Biography Bogumil Gacka received the Doctorate in Systematic Theology from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, in 1987. The promoter of his doctoral thesis was Professor Czeslaw S. Bartnik.

#2297

Mary Whitney Kelting

#98158

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Mary Whitney Kelting is an American ethnographer and scholar of Jainism who is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

#2298

Richard Treloar

#140587

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Richard Stanley Treloar is an Australian Anglican bishop. He is the current Bishop of Gippsland in the Province of Victoria. Treloar was born and raised in Sydney. He studied theology at Trinity College Theological School, graduating Bachelor of Theology and Master of Theology, and at Monash University where he obtained his PhD. Treloar was ordained deacon and priest in the Anglican Diocese of Ballarat and served as curate at St Peter's Ballarat and Christchurch Warrnambool before becoming rector of the Parish of Skipton . In 1998, he was appointed the associate chaplain and Stewart Lecturer in Theology at Trinity College.

#2299

Emilce Cuda

#121454

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Emilce Cuda is an Argentine theologian, university professor, and Roman Curia official. Dubbed "the woman who knows how to read Pope Francis", she is known for interpreting the teachings of Pope Francis through the Argentine Theology of the People, political philosophers, and her own native exposure to Pope Francis’ cultural milieu.

#2300

William T. Ingram

#117192

Overall Influence

1913 - 2001 (88 years)

William T. Ingram was an American theologian. He served as the first President of Memphis Theological Seminary from 1964 to 1978. Early life Ingram was born in 1913. His father, William Thomas Ingram, Sr., was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. His brother, Joe Lynn Ingram, was also a minister. Ingram was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

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