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,
#4401
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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Adolf Wuttke
1819 - 1870 (51 years)
Karl Friedrich Adolf Wuttke was a German Protestant theologian. Biography He was born in Breslau . He studied theology at Breslau, Berlin and Halle, where he eventually became professor ordinarius. Works He is known as the author of a treatise on Christian ethics and works on heathen religion and superstition .
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Matthieu Ory
1492 - 1557 (65 years)
Matthieu Ory was a French Dominican theologian and Inquisitor. Life Entering the Dominican Order at the age of eighteen, he studied in the convent of St-Jacques, Paris, and at the Sorbonne, obtaining the licentiate in theology, 6 February 1527. His reputation for learning and eloquence led to his appointment as grand inquisitor for France , an office which he held until his death.
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Hermann Mandel
1882 - 1946 (64 years)
Hermann Mandel , born Johann Hermann Mandel, was a German theologian who served as Professor of Theology at the University of Kiel Biography Hermann Mandel was born in Holzwickede, Germany on 13 December 1882. His father, Heinrich Mandel, was a teacher and later the head of an orphanage. Mandel gained his abitur from in 1901, and subsequently studied theology at the universities of Halle, Königsberg, Bonn and Greifswald. At Greifswald his teacher was Carl Stange. Mandel received his Ph.D. and completed his habilitation at Greifswald, and in 1911 he was appointed a professor there.
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Jens Matthias Pram Kaurin
1804 - 1863 (59 years)
Jens Matthias Pram Kaurin was a Norwegian professor of theology, biblical translator, and Lutheran priest. He served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin from 1858 until 1861. Life and family Jens Kaurin was born in Laurdal in Telemark county, Norway. He studied theology at Christiania University and graduated with a Cand.theol. degree in 1826. On 22 December 1827, he married Petronelle Louise Hanna Thomasine Magelssen, and together, they had six children: Eiler Rosenvinge, Anne Marie, Christian, Wilhelm Andreas, Edvard, and Susanna Kristence Pram.
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Edward Michelis
1813 - 1855 (42 years)
Edward Michelis was a German Roman Catholic theologian. Life After his ordination, in 1836, he was appointed private secretary to Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, Archbishop of Cologne, whose imprisonment he shared, first in the fortress of Minden , and later at Magdeburg and Erfurt. On his release in 1841 he returned to St. Mauritz, where, the following year, he established the Sisters of Divine Providence, whom he placed in charge of an orphanage he had also founded.
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Johan Joseph Faict
1813 - 1894 (81 years)
Jean-Joseph Faict was the 20th Bishop of Bruges. Life Early years Faict was born in the coastal village of Leffinge at the time when the whole of West Flanders was part of the French empire. His father was a brewer . He studied at the Minor Seminary, Roeselare and then at the Major Seminary, Bruges , before progressing to the Catholic University of Leuven.
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Caspar Aquila
1488 - 1560 (72 years)
Caspar Aquila , born Johann Kaspar Adler, was a German Lutheran theologian and reformer. Biography He was born at Augsburg, and educated there, at Ulm , in Italy , at Bern , and studied theology in Leipzig and Wittenberg . According to his son, he entered the ministry in August 1514, while at Bern. He was for some time a military chaplain.
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George Mountain
1789 - 1863 (74 years)
George Jehoshaphat Mountain was a British-Canadian Anglican bishop , the first Principal of McGill College from 1824 to 1835, and one of the founders of Bishop's University and Bishop's College School.
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William Cunningham
1805 - 1861 (56 years)
William Cunningham was a Scottish theologian and co-founder of the Free Church of Scotland. He was Moderator of the Free Church in 1859. Life Cunningham was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire the eldest son of Charles Cunningham a merchant and his wife Helen Cunningham. The family moved to Cheeklaw in the Scottish Borders and from there he attended Duns Academy.
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Wilbur Fisk Tillett
1854 - 1936 (82 years)
Wilbur Fisk Tillett was an American Methodist clergyman and educator. Early life Wilbur Fisk Tillett was born August 25, 1854, in Henderson, North Carolina, which at that time was in Granville County . He was named for the early 19th-century Methodist theologian Willbur Fisk. His father was an itinerant Methodist minister in North Carolina, John Tillett .
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Robert Sandeman
1718 - 1771 (53 years)
Robert Sandeman was a Scottish nonconformist theologian. He was closely associated with the Glasite church which he helped to promote. His importance was such that Glasite churches outside Scotland were known as Sandemanian.
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Raymond of Sabunde
1385 - 1436 (51 years)
Raymond of Sabunde was a Catalan scholar, teacher of medicine and philosophy and finally regius professor of theology at Toulouse. He was born in Barcelona , and died in Toulouse. His Theologia Naturalis sive Liber naturae creaturarum, etc., written 1434–1436 but published in 1484, marks an important stage in the history of natural theology. It was first written in Latin . His followers composed a more classical Latin version of the work. It was translated into French by Michel de Montaigne and edited in Latin at various times .
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Bartholomäus Ringwaldt
Bartholomäus Ringwaldt was a German didactic poet and Lutheran pastor. He is most recognized as a hymnwriter. Biography Bartholomäus Ringwaldt was born in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Germany. From 1543, he studied theology. After graduating, he first started his career as a teacher. He was ordained into the Lutheran Ministry during 1557 and served as pastor of two parishes. In 1566, he became the pastor of Langenfeld, Neumark. Starting during the 1570s, he wrote songs and poems which focused on his religious and theological beliefs. Ringwaldt was a prolific hymnist, and may have composed tunes as...
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Humphrey Hody
1659 - 1707 (48 years)
Humphrey Hody was an English scholar and theologian. Life He was born at Odcombe in Somerset in 1659. In 1676 he entered Wadham College, Oxford, of which he became a fellow in 1685. In 1692 he became chaplain to Edward Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester, and for his support of the ruling party in a controversy with Henry Dodwell regarding the non-juring bishops he was appointed chaplain to Archbishop John Tillotson, an office which he continued to hold under Thomas Tenison.
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Musa Bigiev
1874 - 1949 (75 years)
Musa Bigiev was a Tatar Hanafi Maturidi scholar, theologian philosopher, publicist and one of the leaders of the Jadid movement. After receiving his education in Kazan, Bukhara, Istanbul and Cairo, he became a political activist for the Ittifaq, the political organisation of the Muslims of Russia. He also taught in Orenburg, wrote journalistic texts and translated classic works into Tatar. After emigrating from the Soviet Union, he travelled Europe and the Middle and Far East while writing and publishing.
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William Nicholls
1664 - 1712 (48 years)
William Nicholls was an English clergyman and theologian, known as an author on the Book of Common Prayer. Life He was the son of John Nicholls of Donington, now Dunton, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at St Paul's School under Thomas Gale, and went up with an exhibition to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated as a commoner on 26 March 1680. He later migrated to Wadham College, and graduated B.A. on 27 November 1683. On 6 October 1684 he was chosen a probationary fellow of Merton College, and proceeded M.A. 19 June 1688, B.D. 2 July 1692, and D.D. 29 November 1695.
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Pope Nicholas II
990 - 1061 (71 years)
Pope Nicholas II , otherwise known as Gerard of Burgundy, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1059 until his death in 27 July 1061. At the time of his election, he was bishop of Florence. During his Papacy, Nicholas II successfully expanded the influence of the papacy in Milan and southern Italy. He was also responsible for passing papal election reforms.
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Joseph Ruggles Wilson
1822 - 1903 (81 years)
Joseph Ruggles Wilson Sr. was a prominent Presbyterian theologian and father of President Woodrow Wilson, Nashville Banner editor Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr., and Anne E. Wilson Howe. In 1861, as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, he organized the General Assembly of the newly formed Presbyterian Church in the United States, known as the Southern Presbyterian Church, and served as its clerk for thirty-seven years.
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Harold C. Case
1902 - 1972 (70 years)
Harold Claude Case was an American academic administrator and Methodist preacher. He served as president of Boston University from 1951 to 1967 and was later named acting president of Whittier College.
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Étienne Dumont
1759 - 1829 (70 years)
Pierre Étienne Louis Dumont , sometimes anglicised as Stephen Dumont, was a Swiss French political writer. He is chiefly remembered as the French editor of the writings of the English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham.
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Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga
1874 - 1957 (83 years)
Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga was a Dutch theologian. From 1936 to 1944 he was professor in New Testament exegesis at the University of Amsterdam. He belonged to the Dutch school of Radical Criticism. Bergh van Eysinga was an advocate of the Christ myth theory.
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Peder Madsen
1843 - 1911 (68 years)
Peder Madsen was a Danish theologian and Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand from 1909 until his death in 1911. Prior to being ordained as a bishop, he had been a professor and the rector of the University of Copenhagen.
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Walter A. Maier
1893 - 1950 (57 years)
Walter Arthur Maier was a noted radio personality, public speaker, prolific author, university professor, scholar of ancient Semitic languages and culture, Lutheran theologian and editor. He is best known as the speaker for The Lutheran Hour radio broadcast from 1930 to 1950.
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Fulcran Vigouroux
1837 - 1915 (78 years)
Fulcran Grégoire Vigouroux , was a French Catholic priest and scholar, biblical theologian, apologist, and the first secretary of the Pontificial Commission . Vigouroux defended the historicity of the Bible.
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Pedro Abarca
1619 - 1697 (78 years)
Pedro Abarca was a Jesuit theologian. Life Born in Aragon, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1641, and passed almost all his religious life as professor of scholastic, moral, and controversial theology, chiefly in the University of Salamanca. He died at Palencia.
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John Gordon Davies
1919 - 1990 (71 years)
John Gordon Davies was Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham. He was educated at King's School , Christ Church and Westcott House . He worked in the dockland parish of Rotherhithe before joining the University of Birmingham, and he was also Director of the Institute for the Study of Worship and Religious Architecture in the University.
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J. H. Oldham
1874 - 1969 (95 years)
Joseph Houldsworth Oldham CBE , known as J. H. or Joe, was a Scottish missionary in India, who became a significant figure in Christian ecumenism, though never ordained in the United Free Church as he had wished.
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Florentine Bechtel
1857 - 1933 (76 years)
The Reverend Florentine Stanislaus Bechtel, S.J., was a French-born American Biblical scholar. Biography Florentine Stanislaus Bechtel was born in Haguenau, Alsace on February 4, 1857. He was educated at the College of Providence in Amiens. He entered the Jesuits in 1874 in his native France and was sent to serve the Jesuit missions in the Midwestern United States and studied theology at the former Jesuit St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Missouri. He taught Hebrew and Sacred Scripture at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, and was a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia articl...
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Johann Jakob Hottinger
1652 - 1735 (83 years)
Johann Jakob Hottinger was a Swiss theologian. Biography He was born in Zürich, the son of the Swiss philologist and theologian Johann Heinrich Hottinger. He studied theology at the Carolinum in Zürich, and also in Basel and Geneva. In 1676 he received his ordination, then in 1680 became a pastor in Stallikon. In 1686 he was named deacon at the Grossmünster in Zürich, where in 1698 he succeeded Johann Heinrich Heidegger as professor of theology. He died in Zürich, aged 83.
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Thomas Burnet
1635 - 1715 (80 years)
Thomas Burnet was an English theologian and writer on cosmogony. Life He was born at Croft near Darlington in 1635. After studying at Northallerton Grammar School under Thomas Smelt, he went to Clare College, Cambridge in 1651. There he was a pupil of John Tillotson. Ralph Cudworth, the Master of Clare, moved to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1654, and Burnet followed him. He became fellow of Christ's in 1657, M.A. in 1658, and was proctor in 1667.
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Robert Lawrence Ottley
1856 - 1933 (77 years)
Robert Lawrence Ottley was an English theologian. Life He was the son of Lawrence Ottley, Canon of Ripon. He was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, and was educated by his sister Alice Ottley and at King's School, Canterbury. The rest of his academic career up to 1933 was spent at Oxford. His undergraduate studies took place at Pembroke College, of which he became an Honorary Fellow in 1905. He was tutor at Christ Church in 1881, and Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College from 1886. In 1890 he became Divinity Dean at Magdalen College. Then, in 1893 he became Principal of Pusey House. During 1...
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John Macleod Campbell Crum
1872 - 1958 (86 years)
The Rev. Canon John Macleod Campbell Crum was an Anglican priest, author and hymnwriter. Family and education Crum was born at Mere Old Hall near Knutsford, Cheshire, to William Graham Crum, a calico printer, and Jean Campbell, who were both of Scottish origin. The family later lived at Broxton Old Hall, also in Cheshire. His grandfathers were the chemist Walter Crum and the theologian John McLeod Campbell.
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Bartholomaeus Arnoldi
1465 - 1532 (67 years)
Bartholomaeus Arnoldi was an Augustinian friar and doctor of divinity who taught Martin Luther and later turned into his earliest and one of his personally closest opponents. Life Usually called Usingen, after his birthplace, Arnoldi received his master's degree in 1491 and was promoted to the doctorate of divinity in 1514. For thirty years he filled the chairs of philosophy and theology at Erfurt University, and, with Jodocus Trutfetter, was its leading teacher. He enjoyed the favour of the younger humanists.
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William Gurnall
1617 - 1679 (62 years)
William Gurnall was an English author and Anglican clergyman born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he was baptised on 17 November 1616. He was educated at the free grammar school of his native town, and in 1631 was nominated to the Lynn scholarship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1635 and MA in 1639. He was made rector of St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham in Suffolk in 1644; and before he received that appointment he seems to have officiated, perhaps as curate, at Sudbury.
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Thomas Cartwright
1535 - 1603 (68 years)
Thomas Cartwright was an English Puritan preacher and theologian. Background and education Cartwright was probably born in Royston, Hertfordshire, and studied divinity at St John's College, Cambridge. On the accession of Queen Mary I of England in 1553, he was forced to leave the university, and found occupation as clerk to a counsellor-at-law. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, five years later, he resumed his theological studies, and was soon afterwards elected a fellow of St John's and later of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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