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,
#2601
Henry Melvill Gwatkin
1844 - 1916 (72 years)
Henry Melvill Gwatkin was an English theologian and church historian. Gwatkin was born at Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, the youngest son of the Rev. Richard Gwatkin, and educated at Shrewsbury and St John's College, Cambridge. In 1868 he won the university's Scholefield Prize and Hebrew Prize and began his academic career as a Fellow of St John's. In 1891 was appointed as Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Cambridge, and also transferred as a Fellow to Emmanuel College, serving in those roles until 1912.
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André Rivet
1573 - 1651 (78 years)
André Rivet was a French Huguenot theologian. Life Rivet was born at Saint-Maixent, 43 km southwest of Poitiers, France. After completing his education at Bern, he studied theology privately at Bern and La Rochelle, and from 1595 to 1620 was at Thouars, first as chaplain of the duke of La Trémouille and later as pastor. In 1617 he was elected president of the Synod at Vitré; and in 1620 he was called to Leiden as professor of theology.
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Johann Faber
1478 - 1541 (63 years)
Johann Faber was a Catholic theologian known for his writings opposing the Protestant Reformation and the growing Anabaptist movement. Biography Johann Faber, the son of a blacksmith, was born in Leutkirch, Swabia and studied theology and canon law at Tübingen and Freiburg in the Breisgau region and was made doctor of sacred theology in Freiburg. He eventually became minister of Lindau, Vicar-General of Constance in 1517, Chaplain and confessor to King Ferdinand I of Austria in 1524, and Bishop of Vienna in 1530.
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Vasile Gheorghiu
1872 - 1959 (87 years)
Vasile Gheorghiu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian theologian. Born in Câmpulung Moldovenesc, then part of Austrian-ruled Bukovina, he attended the Romanian Orthodox high school in Suceava from 1882 to 1890, followed by the theology faculty of Czernowitz University from 1890 to 1984, receiving a doctorate there in 1897. From 1897 to 1899, he attended specialized courses at the Roman Catholic and Protestant theology faculties in Vienna, Bonn, Breslau, and Leipzig. In 1901, he was hired as assistant professor at Czernowitz' Biblical studies and New Testament exegesis department within the theology faculty.
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Vasileios Ioannidis
1896 - 1963 (67 years)
Vasileios Ioannidis was a Greek theologian and professor. His research was focused on the analysis and the understanding of the New Testament. Ioannidis participated in the first three Assemblies of the World Council of Churches and was involved in the movement of Ecumenism.
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Johann Friedrich Röhr
1777 - 1848 (71 years)
Johann Friedrich Röhr was a German theologian; regarded as a main representative of theological rationalism. From 1796 he studied theology at the University of Leipzig, and following completion of studies, served as a vespers preacher at the University Church in Leipzig. In 1802 he became an assistant pastor in Pforta, then from 1804 to 1820 was a pastor in Ostrau bei Zeitz. Afterwards, he served as head pastor and general superintendent in Weimar. On 26 March 1832, he delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
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William Law
1809 - 1892 (83 years)
William Law was an important figure in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement, holding a position in the church's First Presidency under Joseph Smith Jr. Law was later excommunicated for apostasy from the church and was founder of the short-lived True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In this capacity, he published a single edition of the Nauvoo Expositor, the destruction of which set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to Smith's death.
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Gerhard Schneemann
1829 - 1885 (56 years)
Gerhard Schneemann was a German Jesuit. Life After studying law for three years, he entered the seminary at Münster where he was ordained subdeacon in 1850. He became a member of the Society of Jesus, 24 November 1851, and was ordained priest on 22 December 1856.
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Thomas Woolston
1668 - 1733 (65 years)
Thomas Woolston was an English theologian. Although he was often classed as a deist, his biographer William H. Trapnell regards him as an Anglican who held unorthodox theological views. Biography Thomas Woolston, born at Northampton in 1668, the son of a currier, the scholar entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1685; attained the Master of Arts in 1692; the Bachelor of Divinity conferred in 1699; took orders and was made a fellow of his college.
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Johann Georg Veit Engelhardt
1791 - 1855 (64 years)
Johann Georg Veit Engelhardt , a German Protestant theologian. Life He was born at Neustadt-on-the-Aisch. He and was educated at Erlangen, where he afterwards taught in the gymnasium , and became professor of theology in the university . During the years 1845, 1847 and 1848 was the representative of his university in the diet at Munich.
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Christian Friedrich Fritzsche
1776 - 1850 (74 years)
Christian Friedrich Fritzsche was a German Protestant theologian. He was the father of theologian Otto Fridolinus Fritzsche and of philologist Franz Volkmar Fritzsche. From 1792 he studied theology at the University of Halle, afterwards working as a pastor in Steinbach und Lauterbach . In 1809 he became a preacher and superintendent in the community of Dobrilugk. In 1827 he was named an honorary professor of theology at Halle, where in 1830 he gained a full professorship. He was interested in public school education, and he wrote monographs and articles on contemporary theological issues from...
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Jean Beleth
1101 - 1185 (84 years)
Jean Beleth was a twelfth-century French liturgist and theologian. He is thought to have been rector in a Paris theological college. That he was possibly of English origin was a hypothesis discussed by John Pits, and supported by Thomas Tanner; but is no longer taken seriously.
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Stanisław of Skarbimierz
1362 - 1431 (69 years)
Stanisław of Skarbimierz was the first rector of the University of Krakow following its restoration in 1399. He was the author of Sermones sapientiales , comprising 113 sermons. Stanisław was born in Skarbimierz, a town some 50 km north-east of Kraków. His sermons were the foundation of Polish political doctrine that culminated in the system of Nobles' Democracy in Poland and, from 1569, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Many ideas central to this doctrine may be found in subsequent works by Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki that appear to have influenced the 17th-century English Commonweal...
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Nikephoros Theotokis
1731 - 1800 (69 years)
Nikephoros Theotokis or Nikiforos Theotokis was a Greek scholar and theologian, who became an archbishop in the southern provinces of the Russian Empire. A polymath, he is respected by the Greek Orthodox church as one of the "teachers of the nation".
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Aubrey Moore
1848 - 1890 (42 years)
Aubrey Lackington Moore was an English Anglo-Catholic priest and one of the first Christian Darwinians. He has been described as "the clergyman who more than any other man was responsible for breaking down the antagonisms towards Evolution then widely felt in the English Church".
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Hans Gerhard Stub
1849 - 1931 (82 years)
Hans Gerhard Stub was an American Lutheran theologian and church leader. He served as Bishop of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. Background Hans Gerhard Stub was born in Muskego, Wisconsin. His parents were Lutheran Pastor Hans Andreas Stub and Ingeborg Margrethe Arentz , both immigrants from Norway. Hans Stub was born in an immigrant cabin in Wisconsin. He was shaped from childhood by the life within the Norwegian Synod, which his father had help found in 1853. He studied for a time in Norway at the Bergen Cathedral School.
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Daniel Lorenz Salthenius
1701 - 1750 (49 years)
Daniel Lorenz Salthenius was a professor of theology at the University of Königsberg from 1732 until his death. Salthenius was born in Markim between Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, the son of a pastor. He studied at the university in his birthplace, as well as University of Halle, and became a noted Pietist. He was appointed to his post at Königsberg to help the Pietist cause there.
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James Roosevelt Bayley
1814 - 1877 (63 years)
James Roosevelt Bayley was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore . Early life and education Bayley's paternal grandfather, Dr. Richard Bayley, was a professor at Columbia College who created New York's quarantine system. Dr. Bayley had three children by his first wife, among whom was Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was canonized in 1975 as the first American-born Roman Catholic saint. After his first wife's death, Dr. Bayley married Charlotte Amelia Barclay, a member of the Roosevelt family, and the couple had seven children, the sixth of whom was Archbishop Bayley's father, Guy Carleton Bayley, born in 1786.
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Robert of Ketton
1110 - 1160 (50 years)
Robert of Ketton, known in Latin as Rodbertus Ketenensis , was an English astronomer, translator, priest and diplomat active in Spain. He translated several works of Arabic into Latin, including the first translation of the Quran into any Western language. Between 1144 and 1157 he held an archdeaconry in the diocese of Pamplona. In the past he has been confounded with Robert of Chester , another English translator active in Spain in the mid-twelfth century; and at least one modern scholar believes they are the same person.
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Daniel Ernst Jablonski
1660 - 1741 (81 years)
Daniel Ernst Jablonski was a German theologian and reformer of Czech origin, known for his efforts to bring about a union between Lutheran and Calvinist Protestants. Life Jablonski was born in the village of Nassenhuben, near Danzig . His father, Peter Figulus, was a minister of Unity of the Brethren ; the son preferred the Bohemian surname Jablonski which was based on his father's birthplace – Jablonné nad Orlicí. He was the younger brother of Johann Theodor Jablonski. His maternal grandfather, Johann Amos Comenius , was the last bishop of the Unity. Having studied at Frankfurt and at Oxfo...
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Walter Scott
1796 - 1861 (65 years)
Walter Scott was one of the four key early leaders in the Restoration Movement, along with Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell and Thomas' son Alexander Campbell. He was a successful evangelist and helped to stabilize the Campbell movement as it was separating from the Baptists.
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Nicholas Zernov
1898 - 1980 (82 years)
Nicolas Michaelovich Zernov was a Christian Russian émigré who settled in Britain, and taught theology at Oxford University. He wrote many books about the Orthodox Church, and about Christianity in Russia, of which the best known is The Russian Religious Renaissance of the Twentieth Century . He worked continuously for the unity of Christians, and from 1935 to 1947 was secretary of the ecumenical Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius, which he helped to found in 1928.
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Josef Beran
1888 - 1969 (81 years)
Josef Beran was a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death and was elevated into the cardinalate in 1965. Adam Beran was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II after the Nazis had targeted him for "subversive and dangerous" behavior where he almost died in 1943 due to disease. He was freed in 1945 upon Allied liberation and Pope Pius XII nominated him to head the Prague archdiocese. But the introduction of the communist regime saw him imprisoned and placed under house arrest. His release in 1963 came with the condit...
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Rowland Williams
1817 - 1870 (53 years)
Rowland Williams was a Welsh theologian and educationalist. He was vice-principal and Professor of Hebrew at St David's College, Lampeter, from 1849 to 1862 and one of the most influential theologians of the nineteenth century. He supported biblical criticism and pioneered comparative religious studies in Britain. He was also a priest in the Church of England, and the vicar of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire, where he is buried. Williams is also credited with introducing rugby football to Wales; Lampeter's team was the first to be established in the nation.
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Hermann Strack
1848 - 1922 (74 years)
Hermann Leberecht Strack was a German Protestant theologian and orientalist; born in Berlin. Biography From 1877, Strack was assistant professor of Old Testament exegesis and Semitic languages at the University of Berlin. He was the foremost Christian authority in Germany on Talmudic and rabbinic literature, and studied rabbinics under Steinschneider. Since the reappearance of anti-Semitism in Germany, Strack had been the champion of the Jews against the attacks of such men as Hofprediger Adolf Stoecker, Professor August Rohling, and others. In 1885 Strack became the editor of Nathanael. Zeit...
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Eelis Gulin
1893 - 1975 (82 years)
Eelis Gideon Gulin also known as Pinomaa or Gulin-Pinomaa was Professor of New Testament at the University of Helsinki from 1933 to 1945 and Bishop of Tampere from 1945 to 1966. Biography Gulin was born on 29 December 1893 in Mikkeli, Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, the son of Arthur Lorenz Pinomaa Gulin and Bertha Kristina Christina Sarlin. In 1915 he graduated with a bachelor's degree and commenced studies in Eastern languages, Greek, Latin and theoretical philosophy, after which he intended to begin researching the Old Testament. In 1918 he graduated in theology and earned a bachelor's degree one year later.
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Hesychius of Sinai
601 - 800 (199 years)
Hesychius of Sinai was a hieromonk of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, and an ascetic author of the Byzantine period in literature. Nothing definite is known concerning his career or the exact time at which he lived. Only fragments of the literary remains of this author have been preserved, and they have still to be collected and separately criticized. In manuscripts, as a rule, he is given the honorary title of "Our Holy Father" and, in cases where the authenticity of this title on a manuscript is certain, it is sufficient to distinguish him from others of the same name, and espec...
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Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Barbahari
867 - 940 (73 years)
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʻAlī al-Barbahārī was a Muslim theologian and populist religious leader from Iraq. He was a scholar and jurist who is famous for his role in suppressing S̲h̲īʿa missionaries and Mu'tazilism in the Abbasid Caliphate during his lifetime. His books include creedal and methodological refutations against certain sects including the Shias, Qadaris, and the Mu'tazilites.
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Johan Henrik Thomander
1798 - 1865 (67 years)
Johan Henrik Thomander was a Swedish professor, bishop, translator and author. He received his doctorate in theology in 1836 and was elected to the eighteenth chair of the Swedish Academy in 1856. After his father's death, Thomander's daughters bequeathed a house on Sandgatan in Lund to Lund University to be used as a student residence. The dormitory still exists today and is called .
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Friedrich Heinrich Ranke
1798 - 1876 (78 years)
Friedrich Heinrich Ranke was a German Protestant theologian. He was the brother of historian Leopold von Ranke and the father of pediatrician Heinrich von Ranke and anthropologist Johannes Ranke .
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Arthur Peake
1865 - 1929 (64 years)
Arthur Samuel Peake was an English biblical scholar, born at Leek, Staffordshire, and educated at St John's College, Oxford. He was the first holder of the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester, from its establishment as an independent institution in 1904. He was thus the first non-Anglican to become a professor of divinity in an English university.
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Emil Albert Friedberg
1837 - 1910 (73 years)
Emil Albert Friedberg was a German canonist. Friedberg was born at Konitz, Province of Prussia. His Jewish parents had joined the Evangelical Church in Prussia before his birth, letting him baptised Protestant. Friedberg was educated at Berlin and Heidelberg. After having been a member of the faculty at Berlin, Halle, and Freiberg, he was appointed professor at Leipzig in 1869.
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Alexander Black
1789 - 1864 (75 years)
Alexander Black DD professor of Exegetical Theology in New College, Edinburgh. Black was a native of Aberdeen, where he received his education, first at the Grammar School, and afterwards at Marischal College. After passing through the Divinity Hall, he was appointed assistant to Dr Ross, East Church, Aberdeen, and he was subsequently presented to the Parish Church of Tarves, as successor to Duncan Mearns. Upon the death of David Brown, Black in 1831 became his successor in the Professorship of Divinity in Marischal College. His knowledge of Hebrew and the cognate tongues procured him, in 1839, a place in a deputation sent by the General Assembly to Palestine.
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Johann Jakob Schudt
1664 - 1722 (58 years)
Johann Jakob Schudt was a German polyhistor and Orientalist. Life Schudt was born and died in Frankfurt am Main. He studied theology at Wittenberg, and went to Hamburg in 1684 to study Orientalia under Ezra Edzardi. He then settled in his native city as teacher in the gymnasium in which he had been educated, and of which he became rector in 1717.
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Carl Friedrich Kotschy
1789 - 1856 (67 years)
Carl Friedrich Kotschy was an Austrian Protestant theologian and botanist born in Cieszyn, Poland1813-1866 From 1807 to 1810 he studied theology and botany at the University of Leipzig, and afterwards travelled through France and Switzerland. In Switzerland he met with renowned educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi .
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Willem Kremer
1896 - 1985 (89 years)
Willem Kremer was a Dutch pastor of the Christian Reformed Churches and a professor of practical theology at the Theological University of Apeldoorn. Life and work Willem Kremer was born in Zwolle. His father, Gerrit Kremer, worked as a gardener and inspired him to pursue gardening. After the completion of his studies, he worked in greenhouses in Wassenaar, where he contracted the Spanish flu. During his illness, he discovered a passion for religion. In 1926, he completed his studies of theology in Apeldoorn and became a Christian Reformed minister in Kornhorn. In Kornhorn he was confirmed by his mentor professor Jacob Jan van der Schuit.
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Johann Nepomuk Ehrlich
1810 - 1864 (54 years)
Johann Nepomuk Ehrlich was an Austrian theologian and philosopher born in Vienna. Biography Ehrlich was born in Vienna. He initially studied philosophy in Krems , and from 1829 to 1834 studied philosophy and theology at the University of Vienna. In 1834 he received his ordination, and from 1836 taught classes in philosophy, history and literature at the gymnasium in Krems.
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Emil Frommel
1828 - 1896 (68 years)
Emil Frommel was a German pastor and author, born at Karlsruhe. He studied at Halle upon Saale, Erlangen, and Heidelberg, held several pastorates, served as army chaplain in the Franco-German War of 1870–1871 and in 1872 was appointed court preacher at Berlin and pastor of the garrison in that city.
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Julius Schniewind
1883 - 1948 (65 years)
Julius Schniewind was a German evangelical theologian. He came to prominence in the 1930s as a leader of the Confessing Church , which can be seen as a movement within German Protestantism that arose during the Nazi years in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi Protestant Reich Church.
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Andrea Gallandi
1709 - 1779 (70 years)
Andrea Gallandi was an Italian Oratorian and patristic scholar. Life He pursued his theological and historical studies under two Dominicanss, Daniello Concina, a moralist, and Bernardo de Rossi , a noted historical scholar and theologian. With both of these instructors he kept up a friendship after he had joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
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Daniel Whitby
1638 - 1726 (88 years)
Daniel Whitby was a controversial English theologian and biblical commentator. An Arminian priest in the Church of England, Whitby was known as strongly anti-Calvinistic and later gave evidence of Unitarian tendencies.
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Peter du Moulin
1601 - 1684 (83 years)
Peter du Moulin was a French-English Anglican clergyman, son of the Huguenot pastor Pierre du Moulin and brother of Lewis du Moulin. He was the anonymous author of Regii sanguinis clamor ad coelum adversus paricidas Anglicanos, published at The Hague in 1652, a royalist work defending Salmasius and including a strong attack on John Milton.
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Hermann Schultz
1836 - 1903 (67 years)
Hermann Schultz , German Protestant theologian, was born at Lüchow in Hanover . Education He studied at Göttingen and Erlangen, became professor at Basel in 1864, and eventually professor ordinarius at Göttingen. Here he also held the appointments of chief university preacher, councillor to the State Consistory of the Church of Hanover and abbot of Bursfelde .
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Johann Jacob Zimmermann
1644 - 1693 (49 years)
Johann Jacob Zimmermann was a German nonconformist theologian, millenarian, mathematician, and astronomer. Life Zimmermann was born in Vaihingen, Württemberg on November 25, 1642. He lived in Nürtingen, and studied theology at the University of Tübingen, where he was awarded the title Magister in 1664. An astronomer and astrologer, Zimmermann produced one of the first Equidistant Conic Projection star charts of the northern hemisphere in 1692. While at University, he also was a singing instructor.
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Kathleen Bliss
1908 - 1989 (81 years)
Kathleen Mary Amelia Bliss was an English theologian, missionary and official of the World Council of Churches . Early life Bliss was born in Fulham. She attended Girton College, Cambridge, graduating in theology and history . While at university, she participated in the Student Volunteer Movement.
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Jacob Vernet
1698 - 1789 (91 years)
Jacob Vernet was a prominent theologian in Geneva, Republic of Geneva, who believed in a rationalist approach to religion. He was called "the most important and influential Genevan pastor of his day".
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Jakob Andreae
1528 - 1590 (62 years)
Jakob Andreae was a significant German Lutheran theologian and Protestant Reformer involved in the drafting of major documents. Life He was born in Waiblingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the University of Tübingen from 1541. He attended the diets of Regensburg and Augsburg , became professor of theology in the University of Tübingen , and provost of the church of St. George. He was active in Protestant discussions and movements, particularly in the adoption of a common declaration of faith by the two parties.
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John Williams
1796 - 1839 (43 years)
John Williams was an English missionary, active in the South Pacific. Early life He was born in Tottenham, near London, to Welsh parents. In 1810 the family moved to north London and there he served as a clerk to an iron foundry. He also took some interest in smithing. There his employer's wife first took him to church and he was immediately drawn to this, and the pastor, Rev Nathan Wilks, enrolled him in a class to prepare for the ministry. However, his heart quickly became set on missionary work.
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François de Pâris
1690 - 1727 (37 years)
François de Pâris was a French Catholic deacon and theologian, a supporter of Jansenism. He became deacon of the Oratory of St. Magloire and was noted for his critique of the papal bull Unigenitus, which condemned Pasquier Quesnel's annotated translation of the Bible. He gave his earnings to the poor, and in his retirement he lived in a state of extreme poverty. After his death, his place of burial gained a reputation for supernatural events and the basis of the Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard where he is buried. In 1731 there was a movement by the Jansenists to canonize François de Pâris as...
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Nicholas Eymerich
1320 - 1399 (79 years)
Nicholas Eymerich was a Roman Catholic theologian in Medieval Catalonia and Inquisitor General of the Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon in the later half of the 14th century. He is best known for authoring the Directorium Inquisitorum, that mostly summarized previous texts and mores.
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