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,
#351
James Barr
#22616
Overall Influence
1924 - 2006 (82 years)
James Barr was a Scottish Old Testament scholar, known for his critique of the notion that the vocabulary and structure of the Hebrew language may reflect a particular theological mindset. At the University of Oxford, he was the Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture from 1976 to 1978, and the Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1978 to 1989.
Go to Profile#352
John Howard Yoder
#17720
Overall Influence
1927 - 1997 (70 years)
John Howard Yoder was an American Mennonite theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was The Politics of Jesus, which was first published in 1972. Yoder was a Mennonite and wrote from an Anabaptist perspective. He spent the latter part of his career teaching at the University of Notre Dame.
Go to Profile#353
Matthew Black
#23899
Overall Influence
1908 - 1994 (86 years)
Rev Matthew Black was a Scottish minister and biblical scholar. He was the first editor of the journal, New Testament Studies. Life He was born in Kilmarnock the son of James Black. He attended Kilmarnock Academy.
Go to Profile#354
Dave Hunt
#20174
Overall Influence
1926 - 2013 (87 years)
David Charles Haddon Hunt was an American Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He was in full-time ministry from 1973 until his death. The Berean Call, which highlights Hunt's material, was started in 1992. From 1999 to 2010, he also hosted Search the Scriptures Daily radio ministry alongside T.A. McMahon. Hunt traveled to the Near East, lived in Egypt, and wrote numerous books on theology, prophecy, cults, and other religions, including critiques of Catholicism, Islam, Mormonism, and Calvinism, among others. Hunt's Christian theology was evangelical dispensational and...
Go to Profile#355
Stephen Batchelor
#22193
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (71 years)
Stephen Batchelor is a Scottish Buddhist author and teacher, known for his writings on Buddhist subjects and his leadership of meditation retreats worldwide. He is a noted proponent of agnostic or secular Buddhism.
Go to Profile#356
Delores S. Williams
#14107
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (87 years)
Delores Seneva Williams was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor notable for her formative role in the development of womanist theology and best known for her book Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Her writings use black women's experiences as epistemological sources, and she is known for her womanist critique of atonement theories. As opposed to feminist theology, predominantly practiced by white women, and black theology, predominantly practiced by black men, Williams argued that black women's experiences generate critical theological insights and q...
Go to Profile#357
Thomas Hopko
#18905
Overall Influence
1939 - 2015 (76 years)
Thomas John Hopko was an Eastern Orthodox Christian priest and theologian. He was the Dean of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary from September 1992 until July 1, 2002 and taught dogmatic theology there from 1968 until 2002. In retirement, he carried the honorary title of Dean Emeritus.
Go to Profile#358
Thomas Talbott
#14700
Overall Influence
Thomas Talbott is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon. He is best known for his advocacy of trinitarian universalism. The 2003 book Universal Salvation?: The Current Debate presents Talbott's defense of Trinitarian universalism together with responses from various fields theologians, philosophers, church historians and other religious scholars supporting or opposing Talbott's universalism.
Go to Profile#359
Robert W. Funk
#17772
Overall Influence
1926 - 2005 (79 years)
Robert W. Funk was an American biblical scholar, founder of the Jesus Seminar and the nonprofit Westar Institute in Santa Rosa, California. Funk sought to promote research and education on what he called biblical literacy. His approach to hermeneutics was historical-critical, with a strongly skeptical view of orthodox Christian belief, particularly concerning the historical Jesus. He and his associates described Jesus' parables as containing shocking messages that contradicted established religious attitudes.
Go to Profile#360
Cornelius Plantinga
#15266
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. is an American theologian. He most notably served as president of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2002 through 2011. Plantinga received an AB degree from Calvin College in 1967, a BD degree from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1971, and a PhD degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1982. He is the brother of philosopher Alvin Plantinga and musicologist Leon Plantinga.
Go to Profile#361
Eduard Schweizer
#28579
Overall Influence
1913 - 2006 (93 years)
Eduard Schweizer was a Swiss New Testament scholar who taught at the University of Zurich for an extended period. He won the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies in 1996. Biography Schweitzer studied Protestant theology at the University of Marburg, the University of Zurich and the University of Basel; in these institutions he was a student of Rudolf K. Bultmann, H. Emil Brunner and Karl Barth. He received his degree in theology in 1938 and became a Protestant Pastor in Nesslau. From 1941 he taught New Testament studies at the University of Zurich , the University of Mainz and the University of Bonn .
Go to Profile#362
Basil Hume
#7724
Overall Influence
1923 - 1999 (76 years)
George Basil Haliburton Hume was an English Catholic bishop. He was a monk and priest of the English Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey and its abbot for 13 years until his appointment as Archbishop of Westminster in 1976. His elevation to a cardinal followed during the same year. From 1979, Hume served also as president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He held these appointments until his death from cancer in 1999. His final resting place is at Westminster Cathedral in the Chapel of St Gregory and St Augustine.
Go to Profile#363
Russell D. Moore
#15068
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
Russell D. Moore is an American theologian, ethicist, and preacher. In June 2021, he became the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, and on August 4, 2022, was announced as the magazine's incoming Editor-in-Chief.
Go to Profile#364
Richard B. Hays
#17365
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Richard Bevan Hays is an American New Testament scholar and George Washington Ivey Professor Emeritus of New Testament Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.
Go to Profile#365
L. Michael White
#24518
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
L. Michael White is an American Biblical scholar. He is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins, and director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or co-author of seven books, editor of four volumes and collected essays, and author of twenty-six articles. In 2011, White won the University of Texas' Robert W. Hamilton Book Award, a $10,000 prize, for his newest book Scripting Jesus . White also won the same award in 2006 for his book From Jesus to Christianity. In addition, White is Project...
Go to Profile#366
Roger Haight
#26675
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (88 years)
Roger Haight is an American Jesuit theologian and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He is regarded as a knowledgeable and pioneering theologian, whose experiences with censorship have led to widespread debate over how to handle controversial ideas in the Catholic church today.
Go to Profile#367
Arthur Peacocke
#12398
Overall Influence
1924 - 2006 (82 years)
Arthur Robert Peacocke was an English Anglican theologian and biochemist. Biography Arthur Robert Peacocke was born in Watford, England, on 29 November 1924. He was educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys, Exeter College, Oxford , and the University of Birmingham .
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Denys Turner
#13538
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Denys Alan Turner is an English philosopher and theologian. He is Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology emeritus at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He has written widely on political theory and social theory in relation to Christian theology, as well as on medieval thought, in particular, mystical theology and Christian mysticism.
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Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow
#8782
Overall Influence
1929 - 2008 (79 years)
Patriarch Alexy II was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Elected Patriarch of Moscow in 1990, eighteen months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he became the first Russian Patriarch of the post-Soviet period.
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Richard Gaffin
#19910
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is a Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, and was the Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2008. He became the Professor Emeritus, Biblical and Systematic Theology in 2008.
Go to Profile#371
C. Robert Mesle
#15095
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Charles Robert Mesle is an American process theologian and was professor of philosophy and religion at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, until his retirement in 2016. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion at Graceland University and a Master of Arts degree in Christian theology at University of Chicago Divinity School , Mesle received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in philosophy and religion from Northwestern University .
Go to Profile#372
Vincenzo Fagiolo
#26749
Overall Influence
1918 - 2000 (82 years)
Vincenzo Fagiolo was an Italian cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts from 1990 until 1994. Biography Fagiolo was educated at the Seminary of Segni, the Seminary of Anagni and at the Pontifical Lateran University, earning doctorates in theology and canon law. He was ordained on 6 March 1943, and worked in the Diocese of Rome from 1943 to 1971.
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Kurt Koch
#21581
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Kurt Koch is a Swiss prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been a cardinal since November 2010 and president of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity since 1 July 2010. He was the bishop of Basel from 1996 until 2010.
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Robert A. J. Gagnon
#20008
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Robert A. J. Gagnon is an American theological writer, professor of New Testament Theology at Houston Baptist University , former associate professor of the New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary , an expert on biblical homosexuality, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church . He holds a BA from Dartmouth, an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from the Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Stephen L. Harris
#21341
Overall Influence
1937 - 2019 (82 years)
Stephen L. Harris was Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento. He served there ten years as department chair and was named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He received his MA and PhD degrees from Cornell University. Harris was a member of the American Academy of Religion, a fellow at the Westar Institute, a fellow of the controversial Jesus Seminar, and authored several books on religion, some of which are used in introductory university courses.
Go to Profile#376
Jason BeDuhn
#19227
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (61 years)
Jason David BeDuhn is a historian of religion and culture, currently Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University. Education BeDuhn holds a B.A. in Religious studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, an M.T.S. in New Testament and Christian Origins from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in the Comparative Study of Religions from Indiana University Bloomington.
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Henry Wansbrough
#14279
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Henry Wansbrough is an English biblical scholar, Catholic priest, and monk of Ampleforth Abbey. From 1990 to 2004, he served as Master of St Benet's Hall, Oxford. Biography Born as Joseph Wansbrough on 9 October 1934 in London, England, Henry Wansbrough is Cathedral Prior of Norwich , Magister Scholarum of the English Benedictine Congregation , member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission , Chairman of the Trustees of the Catholic Biblical Association , and Emeritus Member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford . He is Alexander Jones Professor of Biblical Studies within the Department of Theology, Philosophy and Religious studies at Liverpool Hope University.
Go to Profile#378
Oral Roberts
#21353
Overall Influence
1918 - 2009 (91 years)
Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.
Go to Profile#379
Stanley Jaki
#8549
Overall Influence
1924 - 2009 (85 years)
Stanley L. Jaki was a Hungarian-born priest of the Benedictine order. From 1975 to his death, he was Distinguished University Professor at Seton Hall University, in South Orange, New Jersey. He held doctorates in theology and in physics and was a leading contributor to the philosophy of science and the history of science, particularly to their relationship to Christianity. In 2018, Jaki was named one of five Catholic scientists "that shaped our understanding of the world" by Aleteia; the other four are: Copernicus, Gregor Mendel, Giuseppe Mercalli and Georges Lemaitre.
Go to Profile#380
Ivan Illich
#757
Overall Influence
1926 - 2002 (76 years)
Ivan Dominic Illich was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic. His 1971 book Deschooling Society criticises modern society's institutional approach to education, an approach that constrains learning to narrow situations in a fairly short period of the human lifespan. His 1975 book Medical Nemesis, importing to the sociology of medicine the concept of medical harm, argues that industrialised society widely impairs quality of life by overmedicalising life, pathologizing normal conditions, creating false dependency, and limiting other more healthful solutions.
Go to Profile#381
Peter Kohlgraf
#24853
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Peter Kohlgraf is a German Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Mainz since 2017. Life Kohlgraf was born the son of a mason and a nurse. After his Abitur in 1986 at the Dreikönigsgymnasium in Cologne, he studied philosophy and Catholic theology at the University of Bonn and for one semester in Salzburg. Kohlgraf graduated from university in 1991 and went to the seminary of the Archdiocese of Cologne. On June 19, 1993 he was ordained in Cologne Cathedral by the Archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Kardinal Meisner – together with the later Archbishop of Hamburg Stefan Heße and the later suffragan bishop of Cologne, Dominikus Schwaderlapp.
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Stephen Dempster
#25387
Overall Influence
Stephen G. Dempster is a professor emeritus of religious studies at Crandall University. He previously held the Stuart E. Murray chair of religious studies, being succeeded by Keith Bodner. Early life and education Dempster has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario, a Master of Arts in Religion in Biblical Studies and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Old Testament Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Hebrew Language and Literature from the University...
Go to Profile#383
Devin J. Stewart
#5067
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (62 years)
Devin J. Stewart is a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic language and literature. His research interests include Islamic law, the Qur'an, Islamic schools and branches and varieties of Arabic. Education Stewart graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Near Eastern studies from Princeton University in 1984 after completing a 143-page long senior thesis titled "Three Wise Men: The Safawi Religious Institution 1576 - 1629." He completed the Center for Arabic Study Abroad's program at the American University in Cairo, and then earned his PhD with distinction in Arabic and Islamic studies at t...
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Kevin Vanhoozer
#31492
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Kevin Jon Vanhoozer is an American theologian and current research professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.
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John H. Leith
#30678
Overall Influence
1919 - 2002 (83 years)
John Haddon Leith was a Presbyterian theologian and ordained minister who was the Pemberton Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1959 to 1990. He authored at least 18 books and countless essays on Christianity, over the years moving from a moderate to a strongly critical, conservative perspective on the Presbyterian Church .
Go to Profile#386
Neil Gillman
#18500
Overall Influence
1933 - 2017 (84 years)
Neil Gillman was a Canadian-American rabbi and philosopher affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Biography Gillman was born in Quebec City, Canada. He graduated from McGill University in 1954. He was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1960. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1975.
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Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
#6961
Overall Influence
1932 - 2017 (85 years)
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was a British cardinal, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. He submitted his resignation as archbishop on reaching his 75th birthday in 2007; Pope Benedict XVI accepted it on 3 April 2009.
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Eugene V. Gallagher
#12491
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Eugene V. Gallagher is an American professor of religious studies at Connecticut College. His department lists his specializations as: History of religion, New religious movements, New Testament and early Christianity, Western scriptures and traditions. He is the author of several books, mainly on the topic of new religious movements. Gallagher is the Rosemary Park Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Connecticut College, where he worked from 1978 to 2015, and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Charleston.
Go to Profile#389
James Montgomery Boice
#21614
Overall Influence
1938 - 2000 (62 years)
James Montgomery Boice was an American Reformed Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author, and speaker known for his writing on the authority of Scripture and the defence of Biblical inerrancy. He was also the Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death.
Go to Profile#390
Joseph M. McShane
#25838
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Joseph Michael McShane is an American Jesuit priest, who served as President of Fordham University from 2003 until his retirement in 2022. Before becoming President of Fordham University, McShane was the President of the University of Scranton and Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. In addition to his role as President of Fordham, McShane was appointed to the Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing by New York Governor David A. Paterson in 2008. On July 1, 2009, McShane threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium to commemorate the 150th anniversary of baseball at Fordham.
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Robert McAfee Brown
#17764
Overall Influence
1920 - 2001 (81 years)
Robert McAfee Brown was an American Presbyterian minister, theologian, and activist. Life Born on May 28, 1920, in Carthage, Illinois, Brown was the son of a Presbyterian minister and the grandson of theologian and Presbyterian minister Cleland Boyd McAfee. He earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1943 and was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1944. Brown earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1945, and served as a United States Navy chaplain from 1945 to 1946. The recipient of a Fulbright grant, Brown studied at the University of Oxford before completing a doctorate in the philosophy of religion at Columbia University in 1951.
Go to Profile#392
James F. Keenan
#14607
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (71 years)
James F. Keenan is a moral theologian, bioethicist, writer, and the Canisius Professor of theology at Boston College. Career Keenan has been a Jesuit of the New York Province since 1970 and an ordained priest since 1982. He received his B.A. at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY, in 1976, after which he pursued his Masters in Divinity at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. After receiving his M.Div. and ordination in 1982, James Keenan went on to study at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, receiving his S.T.L in 1984 and his S.T.D. in 1988.
Go to Profile#393
Arthur Waskow
#11623
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (91 years)
Arthur Ocean Waskow is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement. Education and early career Waskow was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and a Ph.D. in American history from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He worked from 1959 to 1961 as legislative assistant to Congressman Robert Kastenmeier of Wisconsin. He was a senior fellow at the Peace Research Institute from 1961 through 1963. He joined Richard Barnet and Marcus Raskin and helped to found the Institute for Policy Studie...
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Elliot N. Dorff
#11636
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
Elliot N. Dorff is an American Conservative rabbi. He is a Visiting Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and Distinguished Professor of Jewish theology at the American Jewish University in California , author and a bio-ethicist.
Go to Profile#395
José Míguez Bonino
#23047
Overall Influence
1924 - 2012 (88 years)
José Míguez Bonino was an Argentine Methodist theologian. Biography Bonino was raised in the Methodist Church, and participated actively in this denomination since his youth. He studied theology at a university in Buenos Aires between 1943 and 1948. He worked in church ministries in Bolivia, and after obtaining his degree he was a pastor in Mendoza. Bonino traveled to the United States to pursue a master's degree at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. In 1954, he became a professor of dogmatic theology in Buenos Aires. In 1958, he left teaching to pursue further study at Union Theologi...
Go to Profile#396
Marc H. Ellis
#29142
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Marc H. Ellis is an American author, liberation theologian, and a retired University Professor of Jewish Studies, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. He is currently visiting professor of several international universities, including the University of Innsbruck, Austria and the United Nations University for Peace, Costa Rica.
Go to Profile#397
Toshihiko Izutsu
#10051
Overall Influence
1914 - 1993 (79 years)
was a Japanese scholar who specialized in Islamic studies and comparative religion. He took an interest in linguistics at a young age, and came to know more than thirty languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Hindustani, Russian, Greek, and Chinese. He is widely known for his translation of the Qurʾān into Japanese.
Go to Profile#398
Aidan Nichols
#17661
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
John Christopher "Aidan" Nichols is an English academic and Catholic priest. Nichols served as the first John Paul II Memorial Visiting Lecturer at the University of Oxford for 2006 to 2008, the first lectureship of Catholic theology at that university since the Protestant Reformation. He is a member of the Order of Preachers residing in the Priory of St Michael the Archangel in Cambridge, England.
Go to Profile#399
Catherine Wessinger
#12239
Overall Influence
Catherine Wessinger is an American religion scholar. She is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions at Loyola University New Orleans where she teaches religious studies with a main research focus on millennialism, new religions, women and religion, and religions of India. Wessinger is co-general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. She served as a consultant to federal law enforcement during the Montana Freemen standoff and has been cited for her expertise concerning the Branch Davidians and other apocalyptic groups. She is ...
Go to Profile#400
Arthur Green
#10815
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
Arthur Green is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston. He describes himself as an American Jew who was educated entirely by the generation of immigrant Jewish intellectuals cast up on American shores by World War II.
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