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,
#4801
Michael Sheehan
1870 - 1945 (75 years)
Michael Sheehan was an Irish priest, educator and a Coadjutor Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia . He was also a notable scholar of the Irish language. Biography Born on 17 December 1870 in the Newtown area of Waterford city, County Waterford, Ireland, being the sixth of the children born until then to Cornelius and Ann Sheehan. Cornelius Sheehan was born in Newmarket, County Cork, and owned an export business. Ann Sheehan was raised an Anglican, the daughter of a Church of Ireland minister.
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Mattheus Pinna da Encarnaçao
1687 - 1764 (77 years)
Mattheus Pinna da Encarnaçao was a Brazilian Benedictine writer and theologian. Life He was born at Rio de Janeiro. On 3 March 1703, he became a Benedictine at the Abbey of Nossa Senhora do Montserrate at Rio de Janeiro, where he also studied the humanities and philosophy under . After studying theology at the monastery of Bahia, he was ordained priest 24 March 1708, and appointed professor of philosophy and theology.
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John Evans
1767 - 1827 (60 years)
John Evans was a Welsh Baptist minister. Life He was born at Usk in Monmouthshire, 2 October 1767. After schooling in Bristol he became a student in November 1783 in the Baptist academy there, where his relative Dr. Caleb Evans was theological tutor. During part of the time Robert Hall was his classical tutor. In 1787 he matriculated at King's College, Aberdeen, and went in 1790 to the University of Edinburgh. Having taken the degree of M.A. he returned in June 1791 to England.
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Nicolas Bonet
1280 - 1360 (80 years)
Nicolas Bonet was a Friar Minor, philosopher, theologian, missionary and bishop of Malta. Life Nicolas Bonet was born in the Touraine region of France, where he entered the Franciscan convent at Tours. Nothing is known about his early life. He was incepted as Master of Theology at Paris in the year 1333-4, where he received the title of "Doctor Pacificus" on account of his suave and tranquil mode of lecturing. Bonet took part in the heated dispute concerning John XXII's view on the beatific vision which was finally settled by the decree of his successor, Benedict XII, "Benedictus Deus".
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Jakob Middendorp
1537 - 1611 (74 years)
Jakob Middendorp was a Dutch Catholic theologian and churchman, academic and historian. Life Middendorp was born about 1537 in Oldenzaal, or perhaps Ootmarsum, as he called himself Otmersensis on the title page of his work . He studied the humanities at the Fragerherren gymnasium of Zwolle, philosophy and jurisprudence at Cologne University, where he became doctor of philosophy and both branches of law, and also licentiate of theology; he also taught peripatetic philosophy at the Montanum gymnasium there.
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Georg Mancelius
1593 - 1654 (61 years)
Georg Mancelius was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian in what is now Latvia. He wrote the first dictionary of the Latvian language. From 1635 to 1636 he was Vice Rector of the University of Tartu and from 1636 Rector.
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Niccolò Riccardi
1585 - 1639 (54 years)
Niccolò Riccardi was an Italian Dominican theologian, writer and preacher, known today mostly for his role in the Galileo affair. Life Physically he was unprepossessing, but he was encouraged by his parents who sent him to study with Tomas de Lemos at University of Valladolid. He entered the Dominican Order and was invested with its habit in the Convent of St. Paul, where he studied philosophy and theology. After completing his studies he was made a professor of Thomistic theology at Pincia. While discharging his academic duties, he acquired a reputation as a preacher: Philip III of Spain named him "padre Mostro" , a sobriquet by which he was subsequently known in Spain and at Rome.
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John Yates
1755 - 1826 (71 years)
John Yates was an English Unitarian minister, for over 30 years at the Paradise Street Chapel in Liverpool. He was an abolitionist, a supporter of radical causes, and a member of the Roscoe circle of progressives.
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Gustav Philipp Mörl
1673 - 1750 (77 years)
Gustav Philipp Mörl or Gustav Philipp Morl; Gustavus Philippus Moerl was a German theologian, was born in Nuremberg 26 December 1673 and was educated first in the schools of his native place and then at the university in Altdorf, where he studied philosophy and philology from 1690 to 1692, when he was removed to Jena to study theology and the ancient languages. He traveled through Holland, and visited its most important universities. After his return home he was appointed assistant of the philosophic faculty at Halle, and in 1698 became professor and ecclesiastical inspector at Altdorf. He resigned this position in 1703, and was appointed dean of St.
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Johann Ernst Gerhard the elder
1621 - 1668 (47 years)
Johann Ernst Gerhard was a German Lutheran theologian. There are suggestions, however, that his greater scholarly passion lay in Oriental studies. Latin language sources identify him as Joannes Ernestus Gerhardus .
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Thomas-Étienne Hamel
1830 - 1913 (83 years)
Thomas-Étienne Hamel was a French-Canadian priest and academic. He was the son of Victor Hamel, a merchant and Therèse DeFoy. In 1852, as a student of the Séminaire de Québec, he traveled with Louis-Jacques Casault to London where they arranged for the royal charter of what would become Laval University. After his ordination in 1854, he was sent to Paris' École des Carmes and eventually graduated from the Sorbonne with a license in science, before returning to Quebec to teach at the Séminaire, also acquiring the office of general secretary of the new university. He became rector of the Sémina...
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Nicholas Fitzherbert
1550 - 1612 (62 years)
Nicholas Fitzherbert was an English recusant gentleman who served as secretary to Cardinal William Allen and was found guilty of treason due to his Catholicism. He was the second son of John Fitzherbert of Padley, Derbyshire. Fitzherbert was the grandson of the judge Sir Anthony Fitzherbert , and first cousin to the Jesuit Thomas Fitzherbert. Whilst he was abroad, two priests were arrested at his father's house; they are now saints after becoming martyrs to their faith. Fitzherbert's lands were forfeit, and he was obliged to spend his life abroad. He was buried in Florence.
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Praepositinus
1150 - 1210 (60 years)
Praepositinus was an Italian scholastic philosopher and theologian. He was a liturgical commentator, and supporter a res-theory of belief. He discussed intentional contexts. Biography Praepositinus was probably born in northern Italy. Having studied under Petrus Comestor and taught at Paris, he was scholasticus of Mainz Cathedral in 1196. Returning, he was Chancellor of the University of Paris from c. 1206 to 1209. In 1209 he was replaced as chancellor by John of Chandelle; he retired to an abbey and died shortly after, in 1210.
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Thomas Jackson Crawford
1812 - 1875 (63 years)
Thomas Jackson Crawford was a Scottish minister and professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1867, the highest level within the Scottish church.
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Joseph A. Johnson Jr.
1914 - 1979 (65 years)
Joseph Andrew Johnson Jr. was an African-American theologian. He was a professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center and Fisk University, and a bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Mississippi and Louisiana.
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John Millott Ellis
1831 - 1894 (63 years)
John Millott Ellis was a 19th-century abolitionist minister and intellectual who served as acting President of Oberlin College in 1871. He was a professor of philosophy at Oberlin from 1866 to 1896.
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Radulfus Ardens
1101 - 1200 (99 years)
Radulfus Ardens was a French theologian and early scholastic philosopher of the 12th century. He was born in Beaulieu, Poitou. He is known for his Summa de vitiis et virtutibus or Speculum universale . It is in 14 volumes and is a systematic work of theology and ethics.
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Richard Shepherd
1732 - 1809 (77 years)
Richard Shepherd was an English churchman, Archdeacon of Bedford in 1783, known also for his verse. Life He was son of Henry Shepherd , vicar of Mareham-le-Fen, Lincolnshire, and matriculated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 1 December 1749, at the age of seventeen. He graduated B.A. 1753, M.A. 1757, B.D. 1765, and D.D. 1788, and was elected probationary fellow of his college in 1760.
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Thomas Hamilton
1842 - 1926 (84 years)
Thomas Hamilton PC was a Northern Ireland clergyman and academician who served as president of Queen's College, Belfast and subsequently Vice-Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast after its creation in 1908.
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Wazo of Liège
985 - 1048 (63 years)
Wazo of Liège was bishop of Liège from 1041 to 1048, and a significant educator and theologian. His life was chronicled by his contemporary Anselm of Liège. During this period Liège became known as an educational center. Wazo, who had himself studied under Heriger of Lobbes, served as scholaster under Notker of Liège before succeeding Notker as bishop.
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Duncan Mearns
1779 - 1852 (73 years)
Duncan Mearns was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1821. He was professor of divinity at Aberdeen University from 1816. Life He was born in the manse at Cluny in Aberdeenshire on 23 August 1779 the son of Rev Alexander Mearns, and his wife, Anne Morison, daughter of James Morison of Disblair, who had served as Provost of Aberdeen in 1745. Duncan entered King's College, Aberdeen with a bursary in 1791 to study divinity under Rev Prof Gilbert Gerard and Rev Prof George Campbell. He graduated MA in March 1795, aged 15.
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Charles Daubuz
1673 - 1717 (44 years)
Charles Daubuz or Charles Daubus , was a Church of England clergyman and theologian. Daubuz was a French Protestant divine, who became vicar of Brotherton. In his youth, he removed to England on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes . He was the author of a few theological works, most notably of A Perpetual Commentary on the Revelation of St. John , which is much esteemed. He died on 14 June 1717.
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Samuel Drew
1765 - 1833 (68 years)
Samuel Drew was a British Methodist theologian. A native of Cornwall, England, he was nicknamed the "Cornish metaphysician" for his works on the human soul, the nature of God, and the deity of Christ. He also wrote on historical and biographical themes.
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Jacobus Zaffius
1534 - 1618 (84 years)
Jacobus Hendriksz Zaffius also known as Saffius or Saffio , was a Catholic pastor in Haarlem. Biography He was born in Amsterdam where he later owned some property. From 1568 he was Prior of the Canons Regular monastery De Blinken in Heiloo. In May 1571 he became provost of the Grote Kerk, Haarlem. He witnessed the Satisfactie van Haarlem in 1577, as well as the Alteratie of Amsterdam on 26 May, 1578. Three days after this, Calvinists plundered the Grote Kerk and two years later Zaffius went to jail for refusing to turn over Catholic property to the Haarlem city council. William the Silent granted him amnesty, and it was on this occasion that he made his donation to the Frans Loenenhofje.
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Everard Digby
1550 - 1605 (55 years)
Everard Digby was an English academic theologian, expelled as a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge for reasons that were largely religious. He is known as the author of a 1587 book, written in Latin, that was the first work published in England on swimming; and also as a philosophical teacher, writer and controversialist. The swimming book, De Arte Natandi, was a practical treatise following a trend begun by the archery book Toxophilus of Roger Ascham, of Digby's own college.
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Ferdinand Geminian Wanker
1758 - 1824 (66 years)
Ferdinand Geminian Wanker was a German Roman Catholic moral theologian. Life Works Christliche Sittenlehre oder Unterricht vom Verhalten des Christen, um durch Tugend wahrhaft glücklich zu werden. 2 Bände. 1794. Band 1. Vierte Ausgabe. 1824. Band 2. Dritte Ausgabe. 1811.Vorlesungen über Religion nach Vernunft und Offenbarung. Für Akademiker und gebildete Christen. 1828Gesammelte Schriften. 4 Bände. 1830.
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Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania
1545 - 1609 (64 years)
Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania or Gian Lorenzo d'Anania was an Italian geographer and theologian. Biography Little is known for certain of d'Anania's life. His dates of birth and death are uncertain. He was born in Taverna, a city in the province of Catanzaro in Sila Piccola. He later studied natural science, languages and theology, probably in Naples. He certainly lived there for a few years and served as the teacher of the Archbishop Mario Carafa. At Carafa's death on 11 September 1575, d'Anania returned to Taverna where he remained until his death .
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John Ireland
1435 - 1500 (65 years)
John Ireland or Irland , also known as Johannes de Irlandia, was a Scottish theologian and diplomat. Life A native of Scotland , Ireland was first at St Andrews University but left in 1459 without a degree and joined the University of Paris as student and teacher. According to his own testimony he remained in France, "neare the tyme of thretty yere". Records of the Sorbonne suggest he came from a St Andrews family, although Perth has been suggested as his birthplace. Ireland settled in Paris, and became a doctor of the Sorbonne. As Johannes de Hirlandia he served as Rector of the University of...
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Josef Koch
1885 - 1967 (82 years)
#4830
Thomas Tullideph
1700 - 1777 (77 years)
Thomas Tullideph was principal of St Leonards College at the University of St Andrews and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1742. The odd surname is said to mean “hill of the oxen” and first appears as John de Tolidef in Aberdeen in the early 14th century.
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John Beston
John Beston was an English theological writer, prior of the Carmelite convent at Bishop's Lynn, was doctor in theology both of Cambridge and Paris, and was highly esteemed as a theologian and a philosopher, and also as a preacher.
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Henry Highton
1816 - 1874 (58 years)
Henry Highton was an English schoolmaster and clergyman, Principal of Cheltenham College, known also as a scientific and theological writer. Life He was born at Leicester, the eldest son of Henry Highton. He spent five years at Rugby School, under Thomas Arnold, and matriculated at The Queen's College, Oxford, 13 March 1834. After leaving school, he continued on close terms with Arnold. Highton proceeded B.A. in 1837 , obtaining a first-class in classics, and was Michel fellow of his college in 1840–1. At this period he was tutor to Henry John Stephen Smith, and curate of St Ebbe's Church, Ox...
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Alexander Scrogie
1565 - 1659 (94 years)
Alexander Scrogie was a Scottish clergyman in the Church of Scotland who was minister of St Machar's Cathedral in Aberdeen and was an anti-Covenanting figure in Scotland during the English Civil War. He served as Rector of Aberdeen University.
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Heriger of Lobbes
925 - 1007 (82 years)
Herigerus was a Benedictine monk, often known as Heriger of Lobbes for serving as abbot of the abbey of Lobbes between 990 and 1007. Remembered for his writings as theologian and historian, Herigerus was a teacher to numerous scholars. His biography describes him as "skilled in the art of music", though no music theory treatise survives and neither do the two antiphons and one hymn attributed to him.
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Imam al-Hadrami
1050 - 1096 (46 years)
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Murādī al-Ḥaḍramī or el Mûradi Al Hadrami or al-shaykh al imâm Al Hadrami was an 11th-century North African Islamic theologian and jurist. He died in 1095.
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Gerardus Odonis
1285 - 1348 (63 years)
Geraldus Odonis, Guiral Ot in Occitan, was a French theologian and Minister General of the Franciscan Order. Life His name appears in medieval manuscripts as Geraldus slightly more frequently than Gerardus. This form is also closer to the vernacular form Guiral Ot found in a poem by the Toulouse troubadour Raimon de Cornet.
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James Wedderburn
1495 - 1553 (58 years)
James Wedderburn was a Scottish poet, the eldest son of James Wedderburn, merchant of Dundee , and of Janet Barry, sister of John Barry, vicar of Dundee. He was born in Dundee about 1495, and matriculated at St Andrews University in 1514.
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Michael Gresford Jones
1901 - 1982 (81 years)
Edward Michael Gresford Jones was a Church of England bishop. He was the son of Herbert Gresford Jones who was also a bishop. He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge and ordained in 1927, his first post being as a Curate at St Chrysostom's, Victoria Park, Manchester. He was Chaplain at his old college and after this held incumbencies at Fylde and Hunslet. From 1942 to 1950 he was Bishop of Willesden and Rector of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate — he was consecrated a bishop on Lady Day at St Paul's Cathedral, though he remained at Leeds until he was instituted to St Botolph's on 30 April.
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James Robertson
1803 - 1860 (57 years)
James Robertson FRSE was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was also a noted chemist. Life He was born on 2 January 1803 at Ardlaw Farm near Old Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire, the son of Barbara Anderson and her husband, William Robertson, farmer. He was educated at Pitsligo and Tyrie parish schools. He then studied mathematics at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with an MA in 1820. In 1821 he began studying divinity and graduated a second time in 1825. Ordained to preach by the Church of Scotland he began preaching at Deer, Aberdeenshire in July 1825.
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Andrew Brennan
1877 - 1956 (79 years)
Andrew James Louis Brennan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Richmond from 1926 to 1945. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania from 1923 to 1926.
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Isaac Barrow
1613 - 1680 (67 years)
Isaac Barrow was an English clergyman and Bishop, consecutively, of Sodor and Man and St Asaph, and also served as Governor of the Isle of Man. He was the founder of the Bishop Barrow Trust. During his time as Bishop of Sodor and Man and Governor of the Isle of Man, he enacted significant social, political, and ecclesiastical reforms. He is sometimes confused with his more famous namesake and nephew, Isaac Barrow , the mathematician and theologian.
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George Boardman the Younger
1828 - 1903 (75 years)
George Dana Boardman the Younger was an American clergyman. Early life and education Boardman was born in Burma, the son of the Baptist missionaries George Dana Boardman and Sarah Hall Boardman. He returned to the United States as a boy and attended Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1846, and then Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he graduated in 1852. He continued his education at the Newton Theological Institution and graduated in 1855.
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Girolamo Dandini
1552 - 1634 (82 years)
Girolamo Dandini was an Italian Jesuit and academic. Life He was born in Cesena. With Juan Maldonado he was the first Jesuit professor in Paris, at the Collège de Clermont; there he taught François de Sales. Later he was professor of theology at Perugia.
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John Forbes
1593 - 1648 (55 years)
John Forbes of Corse was a Scottish minister and theologian, one of the Aberdeen doctors, noted for his eirenic approach in church polity and opposition to the National Covenant. Life He was the second son of Patrick Forbes of Corse Castle, bishop of Aberdeen, by his marriage to Lucretia, a daughter of David Spens of Wormiston, Fife. He entered King's College, Aberdeen, in 1607. In 1612 he visited his exiled uncle John Forbes at Middelburg, and then went to the university of Heidelberg. There he studied theology under David Pareus. In 1615 he moved to Sedan and continued his studies under his kinsman Andrew Melville.
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Edward Sugden
1854 - 1935 (81 years)
Edward Holdsworth Sugden was the first master of Queen's College . He was, in partnership with the Methodist Church, responsible for laying down the foundings of the college including the Sugden Principle.
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John Davison
1777 - 1834 (57 years)
John Davison was an English clergyman and academic, known as a theological writer. Life He was born at Morpeth, where his father was a schoolmaster, but brought up in Durham. He was educated at Durham cathedral school, and in 1794 entered Christ Church, Oxford. There he obtained a Craven scholarship in 1796, and was elected Fellow of Oriel College in 1800. In 1810 he became one of the tutors of Oriel.
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Edward Jones
1641 - 1703 (62 years)
Edward Jones , was a Welsh Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Cloyne and Bishop of St Asaph. Jones was born in July 1641 at Llwyn Ririd, near Montgomery, Powys. He was the son of Richard Jones, by Sarah, daughter of John Pyttes of Marrington. He was educated at Westminster School, whence he was elected in 1661 to Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1664, and M.A. in 1668, and was made fellow of his college in 1667. Going to Ireland as domestic chaplain to the Duke of Ormonde, the lord-lieutenant, he was appointed master of Kilkenny College, where Jonathan Swift was his pupil....
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Antonius Thysius the Elder
1565 - 1640 (75 years)
Antonius Thysius was a Dutch Reformed theologian, professor at the University of Harderwijk and University of Leiden. Life He was born on 9 August 1565 in Antwerp, and received a classical education under Bonaventura Vulcanius. In 1581 he followed his teacher to Leiden, where he studied theology under Lambertus Danaeus; Danaeus left for Ghent after a year, and Thysius spent some years travelling, to Frankenthal, Geneva where he was taught by Theodore Beza, then other Swiss cities, and Strasbourg. He was for four years in Heidelberg, and in 1589 went on to England, where he heard in Oxford and Cambridge William Whitaker and John Rainolds.
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Ahmed Zouaoui
1450 - 1488 (38 years)
Ahmed Zouaoui was born in Algiers. He was a theologian and Maliki Mufti of Algiers. Teachers Ahmed Zouaoui had the Imam Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alibi as a guide and teacher in Malikism and Sufism. He was also a disciple for several scholars as Al-Sakhawi and others.
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August Pieper
1866 - 1942 (76 years)
August Pieper was a German theologian and chairman of the People's Association for Catholic Germany. He is the author of several publications concerning theological, social and political issues. Pieper was born in Eversberg , and died in Paderborn.
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