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.
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List of the most influential people in Religious Studies,
#3201
Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack
1738 - 1817 (79 years)
Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack was Prussian theologian, court preacher, and Church governor. Life Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack was born in Magdeburg in the Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg on 4 September 1738, the eldest son of August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack by his second wife. His mother was descended of a French refugee family, which explains a fondness which Sack had for the French language and literature.
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Johann Michael Feder
1753 - 1824 (71 years)
Johann Michael Feder was a German Roman Catholic theologian. Life He studied in the episcopal seminary of Würzburg from 1772–1777; in the latter year he was ordained priest and promoted to the licentiate in theology. For several years Feder was chaplain of the Julius hospital; in 1785 he was appointed extraordinary professor of theology and Oriental languages at the University of Würzburg. He was created a Doctor of Divinity in 1786; director of the university library 1791, ordinary professor of theology and censor of theological publications, 1795.
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Nathanael Burwash
1839 - 1918 (79 years)
Nathanael Burwash was a Canadian Methodist minister and university administrator. Early life and education Rev. Nathanael Burwash was born in St. Andrews East, Lower Canada, on 25 July 1839, the eldest son of the devout Methodists Adam Burwash and Anne Taylor. He was raised on a farm in Baltimore, Canada , to which his family moved in 1844. In 1859 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Victoria College which was then located in Cobourg, Ontario, and was ordained by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1864. He later studied at Yale College and the Garrett Biblical Institute.
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Girolamo Seripando
1493 - 1563 (70 years)
Girolamo Seripando was an Augustinian friar, Italian theologian and cardinal. Life He was of noble birth, and intended by his parents for the legal profession. After their death, however, at the age of fourteen, he entered the Augustinian Order, at Viterbo, where he studied Greek and Hebrew as well as philosophy and theology.
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Juan Luis Maneiro
1744 - 1802 (58 years)
Juan Luis Maneiro was a Mexican Jesuit teacher, scholar, biographer, theologian, and poet. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish provinces , he went to Italy, where he wrote Latin biographies of illustrious Mexican Jesuits.
Go to Profile#3206
Povilas Jakubėnas
1871 - 1953 (82 years)
Povilas Jakubėnas was a Lithuanian Calvinist clergyman, general superintendent of the Lithuanian branch of the Reformed Church during the interbellum, professor of theology, Lithuanian book smuggler during his student times.
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Juan Crespí
1721 - 1782 (61 years)
Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain in 1749, and accompanied explorers Francisco Palóu and Junípero Serra. In 1767 he went to the Baja California Peninsula and was placed in charge of the Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó.
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Francesco Giorgi
1466 - 1540 (74 years)
Francesco Giorgi Veneto was an Italian Franciscan friar, and author of the work De harmonia mundi totius from 1525. In it Giorgio proposed an idea of the Universe created according to the universal system of proportion, which may be studied as laws of mathematics used by architects. The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy describes him as 'idiosyncratic'. He wrote also In Scripturam Sacram Problemata .
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Cornelius van Steenoven
1661 - 1725 (64 years)
Cornelis van Steenoven was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest who later served as the seventh Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht from 1724 to 1725. Consecrated without the permission of the pope, Steenoven was at the center of the 18th-century controversy between national churches and what many considered to be the overreaching powers of the papacy.
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Edward Cardwell
1787 - 1861 (74 years)
Edward Cardwell was an English theologian also noted for his contributions to the study of English church history. In addition to his scholarly work, he filled various administrative positions in the University of Oxford.
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Otto Flügel
1842 - 1914 (72 years)
Otto Flügel was a German philosopher and theologian. Biography He studied at Schulpforta and Halle, and took up pastoral work. He was made editor of the Zeitschrift für exacte Philosophie im Sinne des Neueren Philosophischen Realismus , and in 1894 was one of the founders of Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Pädagogik. He was a supporter of Herbartian realism, as opposed to New-Kantian speculations, yet he believed in the necessity of a revelation.
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Louis of Granada
1504 - 1588 (84 years)
Louis of Granada, OP , was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. The cause for his canonization has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being Venerable.
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Gustavus Waffelaert
1847 - 1931 (84 years)
Gustave Joseph Waffelaert was the 22nd bishop of Bruges in Belgium. Life Waffelaert was born in Rollegem on 27 August 1847. After attending St Vincent's college, Ypres, and the Minor Seminary, Roeselare he entered the Major Seminary, Bruges. He was ordained to the priesthood in Bruges on 17 December 1870, and from 1871 to 1875 served as an assistant priest in the parish of Blankenberge.
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William of Auvergne
1180 - 1249 (69 years)
William of Auvergne was a French theologian and philosopher who served as Bishop of Paris from 1228 until his death. He was one of the first western European philosophers to engage with and comment extensively upon Aristotelian and Islamic philosophy.
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Domenico Viva
1648 - 1726 (78 years)
Domenico Viva was an Italian Jesuit theologian. Life Viva was born at Lecce, and entered the Society of Jesus 12 May 1663. He taught the humanities and Greek, nine years' philosophy, eight years moral theology, eight years' Scholastic theology, was two years prefect of studies, was rector of the College of Naples in 1711, and provincial of Naples.
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William Laurence Sullivan
1872 - 1935 (63 years)
William Laurence Sullivan was an American Unitarian clergyman, prolific author and literary critic, whose Letters to His Holiness, Pope Pius X , was the last work by a U.S. author to have been placed on Vatican's list of prohibited books .
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Johann Bollig
1821 - 1895 (74 years)
Johann Bollig was a German advisor of Pope Pius IX in the lead up to the First Vatican Council. Bollig was born near Düren, Rhenish Prussia, and died in Rome, Italy. Prior to his time as a Pontifical Theologian he served as a theology professor in Syria.
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Luis Galiana y Cervera
1740 - 1771 (31 years)
Luis Galiana y Cervera was a Spanish Dominican theologian, philologist and writer. Early life Luis Galiana y Cervera was born on 8 June 1740 in Ontinyent, Spain, the son of a prominent physician. At the age of 16 he joined the Dominican Order and became part of the Convent of Saint John and of Saint Vincent of Ontinyent. His superiors sent him to study philosophy and theology at a school in Orihuela, where he was noted both for his intellect and for his moral virtues.
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Hermann Guthe
1849 - 1936 (87 years)
Hermann Guthe was a German Semitic scholar. He was educated at Göttingen and Erlangen, and afterwards worked for several years as a private tutor. In 1884 he became a professor of Old Testament exegesis at Leipzig University.
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Emil Friedrich Kautzsch
1841 - 1910 (69 years)
Emil Friedrich Kautzsch was a German Hebrew scholar and biblical critic, born at Plauen, Saxony. Biography He was educated at Leipzig, in whose theological faculty he was appointed privatdozent and professor . Subsequently he held chairs at Basel , where he received an honorary Swiss citizenship and made friends with Friedrich Nietzsche, after which he moved to Tübingen until receiving a professorship at Halle in 1888. Kautzsch traveled to Ottoman Palestine in 1876, and became one of the founding members of the "German Society for the Exploration of Palestine" the following year. He wa...
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Johan Lunde
1866 - 1938 (72 years)
Johan Peter Lunde was a Norwegian theologian and Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo. Biography Lunde was born at Lillehammer, Norway. He was the son of Knud Truls Wiel Lunde and Mariane Sophie Brun . Lunde graduated artium in 1883. He studied theology at the University of Kristiania and became cand.theol. in 1890. He first worked as a teacher before he was ordained at Kristiansand in 1897. In 1900, Lunde became a parish priest in Bygland. In 1906, Lunde became the resident chapel and in 1910 parish priest at St. Johannes Church in Stavanger. In 1920 he moved to Kristiania and became a parish priest at Gamlebyen.
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Paul David Devanandan
1901 - 1962 (61 years)
Paul David Devanandan , spelt also as P.D. Devanandan or Paul D. Devanandan, was an Indian Protestant theologian, ecumenist, and one of the notable pioneers in inter-religious dialogues in India. Biography He was born in Madras on 8 July 1901, and graduated from Nizam College, Hyderabad. He did his M.A from Presidency College, Madras. While studying at Madras, he was acquainted with K. T. Paul, a prominent Social activist, Christian and YMCA leader. He taught briefly at Jaffna College, Ceylon, Sri Lanka. With assistance from K.T. Paul, he flew United States in 1924 and did his theological studies at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California.
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Reuben H. Sawyer
1866 - 1962 (96 years)
Reuben H. Sawyer or Reuben Herbert Sawyer was an American clergyman and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon. As an important advocate of Anglo Israelism , he associated religious beliefs with ultra-conservative and radical political activism.
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Nicholas of Clémanges
1363 - 1437 (74 years)
Mathieu-Nicolas Poillevillain de Clémanges was a French humanist and theologian. He studied in the Collège de Navarre, University of Paris, and in 1380 received the degree of Licentiate, and then later received a Master of Arts. He studied theology under Jean Gerson and Pierre d'Ailly, and received the degree of Bachelor of Theology in 1393.
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Humphry Ditton
1675 - 1715 (40 years)
Humphry Ditton was an English mathematician. He was the author of several influential works. Life Ditton was born on 29 May 1675 in Salisbury, the only son of Humphry Ditton, gentleman and ardent nonconformist, and Miss Luttrell of Dunster Castle, near Taunton. He studied theology privately, and was for some time also a dissenting minister, at Tonbridge, where he married a Miss Ball.
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John Dunmore Lang
1799 - 1878 (79 years)
John Dunmore Lang was a Scottish-born Australian Presbyterian minister, writer, historian, politician and activist. He was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian republicanism.
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Ralph Emerson
1787 - 1863 (76 years)
Ralph Emerson was Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral Theology in the Andover Theological Seminary. He was born on August 18, 1787, in Hollis, New Hampshire, where his father was a leading citizen, and where his grandfather, Rev. Daniel Emerson, was a pastor from 1743 to 1801. He graduated from Yale College in 1811. After studying theology at Andover, he held the office of Tutor in Yale College, from 1814 to 1816, and at the close of this service he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Congregational church in Norfolk, Connecticut. Here he remained till 1829, when he was a...
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Luigi Imperatori
1844 - 1900 (56 years)
Luigi Imperatori , one of the most famous pedagogists and theologians of Canton Ticino, born in Pollegio , teacher and doctor of theology, an important contributor to the Swiss catholic newspapers: "Catholic Believer" and "Freedom." First Director of the magistral school of Canton Ticino, from 1888 to 1900.
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Johannes Gezelius the elder
1615 - 1690 (75 years)
Johannes Gezelius the elder , known in Swedish as Johannes Gezelius den äldre and Johannes Gezelius vanhempi in Finnish, was the Bishop of Turku and the Vice-Chancellor of The Royal Academy of Turku .
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Lucien Gautier
1850 - 1924 (74 years)
Charles Lucien Gautier was a Swiss theologian, born at Cologny, near Geneva, and educated at Geneva, Leipzig, and Tübingen. In 1877-98 he was professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis at Lausanne, and thereafter honorary professor. He was the president of the synod of the Vaudois église libre in 1885, 1886, 1891, and 1892. He traveled in Palestine in 1893-94 and 1899, and wrote:Au dela du Jourdain Souvenirs de Terre-Sainte Autour de la Mer Morte In addition he translated Ghazali's Ad-Dourra el Fâkhira and wrote:Le sacerdoce dans l'Ancien Testament La mission du prophète Ezéchiel Voca...
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Jean-Baptiste Terrien
1832 - 1903 (71 years)
Jean-Baptiste Terrien was a French Jesuit dogmatic theologian. Life He entered the Society of Jesus at Angers, 7 December 1854; he then taught philosophy for two years and dogmatic theology for twenty-two at the seminaries of Laval , 1864–80, and Saint Helier , 1880–88. After being spiritual father at Laval, he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology and taught three years, 1891–94, at the Catholic Institute of Paris, remaining afterwards in this city as spiritual father and writer.
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Theodor Kliefoth
1810 - 1895 (85 years)
Theodor Friedrich Dethlof Kliefoth was a German Neo-Lutheran. He was born in Körchow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 18 January 1810 and he died in Schwerin on 26 January 1895. Life He was educated at the gymnasium of Schwerin, and at the Universities of Berlin and Rostock. In 1833 he was appointed instructor of Duke William of Mecklenburg, and in 1837 accompanied Grand Duke Frederick Francis as tutor to Dresden. He became pastor at Ludwigslust in 1840, and superintendent of Schwerin in 1844. Since 1835 he had been the leading spirit in the ecclesiastical and theological affairs of his state. With th...
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Johann Jakob Wick
1522 - 1588 (66 years)
Johann Jakob Wick was a Protestant clergyman from Zürich. Wick lived in the Zürich of Heinrich Bullinger, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli. He studied theology in Tübingen, and was pastor of Witikon, at the city hospital, and the Predigerkirche. Afterwards he was canon and second archdeacon at the Grossmünster. Wick is the collector of the Wickiana.
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Karl Gerok
1815 - 1890 (75 years)
Karl Gerok was a German preacher and religious poet. Biography He studied at Tübingen, and became chief court preacher and chief consistorial councillor in Stuttgart in 1868. Works His sermons, and particularly his religious poetry, were much admired. The chief collection of the latter is entitled Palmblätter . It was translated into English by Brown . This and Pfingstrosen made him famous. He also published Blumen und Sternen and, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, patriotic effusions under the title of Deutsche Ostern .
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Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani
922 - 996 (74 years)
Ibn Abī Zayd , fully Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Zayd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nafzawī ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawanī, was a Maliki scholar from Kairouan in Tunisia and was also an active proponent of Ash'ari thought. His best known work is Al-Risala or the Epistle, an instructional book devoted to the education of young children. He was a member of the Nafzawah Berber tribe and lived in Kairouan. In addition, he served as the Imam of one of the mosques' that followed the Maliki School tradition. Based on what he wrote in his Risalah regarding creed, there was many alignments with the Ashari creed. ...
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Karl August Traugott Vogt
1808 - 1869 (61 years)
Karl August Traugott Vogt, name sometimes given as Carl Vogt was a German Protestant theologian. He was the father of philologist Friedrich Vogt . Vogt was born in Wittenberg. In 1830 he obtained his habilitation at the University of Berlin, where he later became an associate professor of church history and practical theology. During his time spent in Berlin, he gave sermons at the Trinity Church. In 1837 he relocated as a full professor to the University of Greifswald, where on three occasions he served as university rector . In Greifswald, he also served as an ecclesiastical superintendent and as a member of the Consistory.
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Cyrus David Foss
1834 - 1910 (76 years)
Cyrus David Foss was a prominent Methodist bishop in the latter 19th century, primarily serving in New York City and New England. Biography Foss was born in Kingston, New York, on January 17, 1834. He attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1854. He began his career teaching, and then entered the ministry. Foss was "pastor of the most prominent Methodist churches in this city [New York] and Brooklyn."
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Frederik Julius Bech
1758 - 1822 (64 years)
Frederik Julius Bech was a Danish-Norwegian theologian and politician. He took part in the Meeting of Notables in Eidsvoll on February 16, 1814, and he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Oslo from 1805 to 1822. As the head of the Church of Norway, he crowned Charles III John of Norway at Nidaros Cathedral in 1818.
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Stanislovas Rapolionis
1485 - 1545 (60 years)
Stanislovas Svetkus Rapolionis was a Lutheran activist and Protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With patronage of Albert, Duke of Prussia, he obtained the doctorate of theology from the Protestant University of Wittenberg where he studied under Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. After graduation, he became the first professor of theology at the newly established University of Königsberg, also known as Albertina. As professor he began working on several Protestant publications and translations, including a Bible translation into Polish. It is believed that he also started the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian.
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Daniel Tilenus
1563 - 1633 (70 years)
Daniel Tilenus was a German-French Protestant theologian. Initially a Calvinist, he became a prominent and influential Arminian teaching at the Academy of Sedan. He was an open critic of the Synod of Dort of 1618-9.
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Caspar Erich Schieler
1851 - 1934 (83 years)
Caspar Erasmus Schieler was a German theologian, church historian and priest in the late 19th century and early 20th century. According to documents provided by Mainz Cathedral and the Diocesan Seminary, Schieler studied philosophy and theology at the Episcopal Seminary in Mainz , receiving the Doctor of Divinity degree. Schieler first served as a priest at the age of twenty-five at Mainz, Cathedral ordained under Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler in the year 1876. Due to the Kulturkampf, Schieler was interrogated by the German government and forced to pastor his parish in secret, to avoid further attention.
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Heymeric de Campo
1395 - 1460 (65 years)
Heymeric de Campo was a Dutch theologian and scholastic philosopher. He was a prominent Albertist, and forerunner of Nicholas of Cusa. He studied at the University of Paris, and taught at Cologne , and Leuven.
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Božo Milanović
1890 - 1980 (90 years)
Msgr. Božo Milanović , was a Croatian priest, theologian and politician from Istria, and, along with Antonio Santino, one of the greatest anti-fascists of Istria. He is credited with decisively contributing to the unification of Istria with Croatia.
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Bjarni Halldórsson
1703 - 1773 (70 years)
Bjarni Halldórsson was an Icelandic legal figure and theologian. He is best known for being a county magistrate. He first lived in Víðidalstungu but most of his life he lived in Þingeyrar.
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Stephan Agricola
1491 - 1547 (56 years)
Stephan Agricola was a Lutheran church reformer. Born in Abensberg, at a young age he joined the Augustinian order. As a monk, he studied Augustine deeply. As a student, he went to the universities in Bologna and Venice, where in 1519 he became a Doctor of Theology. He began to preach on whole books of the Bible in 1520. He was led to Lutheranism through his study of Augustine's works on the scriptures. He was accused of Lutheranism as a heresy. Although he claimed his independence of Luther, he was arrested and imprisoned in Mühldorf on November 17, 1522. In 1523 he escaped and came to Augsb...
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Liselotte Richter
1906 - 1968 (62 years)
Liselotte Richter was a German philosopher and theologian. She was the first female professor of philosophy in Germany. Early life Luise Charlotte Richter was born in 1906 and grew up with her twin brother Fritz in a middle-class family, first in Berlin-Tegel and then in Charlottenburg.
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Francisco Macedo
1596 - 1681 (85 years)
Francisco Macedo , known as S. Augustino, was a Portuguese Franciscan theologian. Life He entered the Jesuit Order in 1610, which however he left in 1638 in order to join the Discalced Augustinians. These also he left in 1648, for the Franciscans. In Portugal he sided with the House of Braganza.
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John Arrowsmith
1602 - 1659 (57 years)
John Arrowsmith was an English theologian and academic. Life Arrowsmith was born near Gateshead and entered St John's College, Cambridge, in 1616. In 1623 he entered the fellowship of St Catherine Hall, Cambridge.
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John Punch
1603 - 1661 (58 years)
John Punch was an Irish Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian. Punch was ultimately responsible for the now classic formulation of Ockham's Razor, in the shape of the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, "entities are not to be multiplied unnecessarily." His formulation was slightly different: Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate. Punch did not attribute this wording to William of Ockham, but instead referred to the principle as a "common axiom" used by the Scholastics.
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E. J. P. Jorissen
1829 - 1912 (83 years)
Eduard Johan Pieter Jorissen was a Dutch lawyer and politician. He graduated in theology and served as State Attorney of the South African Republic from 1876 to 1877 under Thomas François Burgers.
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