Search People Result | Academic Influence

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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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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School

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Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Theology,

#1301

Ernest A. Fitzgerald

#79324

Overall Influence

1925 - 2001 (76 years)

Ernest A. Fitzgerald was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1984. Birth and family He was born in Crouse, North Carolina. He married Sarah Frances Perry of Wingate, North Carolina 24 August 1945. The Fitzgeralds have two children: son Jimmy and wife Phyllis; and daughter Patty and husband Charles Poole. The Fitzgeralds also have three grandchildren.

#1302

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley

#64944

Overall Influence

1932 - 2023 (91 years)

Charles Frazier Stanley was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on emeritus status in 2020. He founded and was president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through television and radio. He also served two one-year terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, from 1984 to 1986.

#1303

Gioacchino Illiano

#117403

Overall Influence

1935 - 2020 (85 years)

Gioacchino Illiano was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop. Illiano was born in Italy and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961. He served as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno, Italy. from 1987 to 2011.

#1304

Gavin Hyman

#109357

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (50 years)

Gavin Hyman is Senior Lecturer at the University of Lancaster. He read Theology at Peterhouse, Cambridge and the University of Exeter. He has published on postmodernism, philosophy and theology, radical orthodoxy, atheism, and ethics.

#1305

Iain Provan

#44299

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Iain William Provan is a British Old Testament scholar, now living in Canada. He was Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College in Vancouver from 1997 until his retirement on December 31, 2022.

#1306

Gérard Defois

#102968

Overall Influence

1931 - Present (93 years)

Gérard Denis Auguste Defois is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was the ordinary of a series of French dioceses from 1990 until his retirement in 2008. He was Archbishop of Sens-Auxerre from 1990 to 1995, Archbishop of Reims from 1995 to 1998, and finally of Bishop of Lille with the personal title of archbishop from 1998 to 2008. Before becoming a bishop he worked for the French Bishops Conference and held academic positions. He has published extensively.

#1307

Reinhold Stecher

#66866

Overall Influence

1921 - 2013 (92 years)

Reinhold Stecher was an Austrian Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Stecher was born in St. Valentin auf der Haide, South Tyrol and was ordained a priest on 19 December 1947. He was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Innsbruck on 15 December 1980 and ordained bishop on 25 January 1981. He retired on 10 October 1997.

#1308

David Nekrutman

David Nekrutman

#93888

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (51 years)

David Nekrutman is an American-Israeli Orthodox Jewish theologian, writer, director, columnist, public speaker, and pro-Israel activist. He is a prominent figure and pioneer in the world of Jewish-Christian relations and is the former executive director and co-founder of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation , co-founder of the Day to Praise global interfaith initiative, and founder of the Blessing Bethlehem aid organization. Nekrutman currently serves as the Executive Director and co-founder of The Isaiah Projects, a ministry dedicated to helping Christians discover the Hebraic roots of their faith.

#1309

Dag Thorkildsen

#128903

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (73 years)

Dag Thorkildsen is a Norwegian theologian, priest and Professor of church history. He received his cand. theol. from the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, in 1977 and took his exam in practical theology at the same place in 1978. He was ordained priest in Hamar Cathedral on 19 December 1978. Thorkildsen worked as a vicar and seamen's chaplain 1979–80. From 1980 to 1989 he was a research assistant and vicar teaching assistant of Christian science of the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Oslo. Thorkildsen argued for his doctorate in theology in 1989 with work on the ...

#1310

Erhard Domay

#128845

Overall Influence

1940 - 2012 (72 years)

Erhard Domay was a German Protestant theologian, mainly notable as the author and editor of several works on liturgy. Life He studied Protestant theology and German studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and the Philipps-Universität Marburg from 1960 to 1964.

#1311

Fritz Lobinger

#113070

Overall Influence

1929 - Present (95 years)

Fritz Lobinger is a German prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career as a missionary in South Africa where, as head of the Lumko Missiological Institute, he developed the concepts of small Christian communities and Bible sharing. He was Bishop of Aliwal from 1987 to 2004. He has advocated the ordination of teams of married men as priests to serve communities that otherwise lack regular access to the sacraments, with their functions designed to distinguish them from celibate priests.

#1312

Angela Tilby

#30904

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Angela Clare Wyatt Tilby is British Anglican priest, author and former producer. She began her career working as a producer within the BBC's Religious Department. She was then ordained in the Church of England, and was a parish priest in the Diocese of Ely alongside working at Westcott House, a theological college in Cambridge, and as a lecturer with the Cambridge Theological Federation. She moved to Oxford where she was a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford . In retirement, she is canon emeritus of Christ Church Cathedral, and a chaplain and honorary canon at Portsmouth Cathedral.

#1313

George E. Mendenhall

#20794

Overall Influence

1916 - 2016 (100 years)

George Emery Mendenhall was an American Biblical scholar who taught at the University of Michigan's Department of Near Eastern Studies. Career Mendenhall graduated from Midland College in Nebraska in 1936, and from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 1938. Mendenhall was first an ordained Lutheran minister, and during World War II he served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy. After the war, Mendenhall obtained a Ph.D. in Semitic languages from Johns Hopkins University and began a career in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical studies as well as related archeology. He was professor at the University of Michigan from 1952 to 1986.

#1314

John H. Walton

#46058

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

John H. Walton is an Old Testament scholar and Professor Emeritus at Wheaton College. He was a professor at Moody Bible Institute for 20 years. He specializes in the Ancient Near Eastern backgrounds of the Old Testament, especially Genesis and its creation account, as well as interpretation of Job.

#1315

Detlev Koester

#161618

Overall Influence

#1316

William Lee Bradley

#91414

Overall Influence

1918 - 2007 (89 years)

The Reverend Doctor William Lee Bradley , was a scholar of comparative religion, ethics, and theology, as well as a philanthropist. Early life and education Bradley was born in Oakland to Kathryn Lee Culver, an author and artist, and Dwight Jaques Bradley, author and Congregational Church leader. He was raised in El Paso, Texas, Webster Groves, Missouri, and Newton Centre, Massachusetts. In 1947, he married Paula Anne Elliott, later a New Hampshire State Representative . He received his B.A. from Oberlin College , B.D. from Andover Newton Theological School , and Ph.D. from University of Edinburgh, Scotland .

#1317

Erich Zenger

#104267

Overall Influence

1939 - 2010 (71 years)

Erich Zenger was a German Roman Catholic priest and theologian. Ordained in 1964, Zenger studied in Rome, Italy. From 1973 to 2004, he served as a professor of Old Testament studies at the University of Münster/Westfalen, and he wrote books and papers on the Old Testament.

#1318

Christa Mulack

#102798

Overall Influence

1943 - 2021 (78 years)

Christa Mulack was a German feminist theologian, educator and author. Life Christa Mulack was born and grew up in Hamburg. She studied Theology, Psychology, Sociology and Teaching sciences. While working as a teacher at a Gymnasium she received her doctorate in 1982 from the University of Dortmund . Her dissertation, entitled "Die Weiblichkeit Gottes" , was published as a book in 1983, and established Mulack's reputation as a feminist theologian. The topic is one on which she worked as a freelance author and teacher at several universities and theological academies after 1984.

#1319

Harold C. Washington

#88873

Overall Influence

Harold C. Washington is the professor of Hebrew Bible at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. He holds both M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends . Washington's professional output is considerable. Perhaps most significantly, he contributed the introduction and annotations for the books of Proverbs and Sirach in the third edition of The New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV.

#1320

Rebecca Ann Parker

#86275

Overall Influence

Rebecca Ann Parker is an American theologian, author, and former President of Starr King School for the Ministry, the first woman to serve as the permanent head of an accredited U.S. theological school.

#1321

Nigel G. Wright

#99865

Overall Influence

1949 - Present (75 years)

Nigel Goring Wright is a British Baptist theologian. Early life and education Wright was born on 13 May 1949 in Manchester and joined the Baptist church at the age of fifteen. He attended the University of Leeds, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern languages. He further gaining a BD degree from the University of London. He earned a Master of Theology degree from the University of Glasgow in 1987 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1994 from King's College, London.

#1322

Wolfgang Vondey

#130768

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (57 years)

Wolfgang Vondey is a German-born Pentecostal theologian who currently serves as Professor of Christian Theology and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, where he also directs the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies.

#1323

Gunnar Alksnis

#95614

Overall Influence

1931 - 2011 (80 years)

Gunnar Alksnis was a Latvian-American philosopher and theologian who was specialized in ethics and history of philosophy. Biography Alksnis was born as Gunārs Alksnis on July 1, 1931, in Riga, the capital of Latvia. His parents were John Edward Alksnis and Elza Alksnis. The Alksnis family came to the United States in 1949. In 1955 Gunnar Alksnis received a Bachelor of divinity degree. One year later he was ordained as a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at Trinity Church in Russell County, Kansas. He married Pauline Elizabeth Krug in 1957. The couple had two children, J...

#1324

Isabelle Graesslé

#58933

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Isabelle Graesslé is a French born theologian, feminist and former museum director, based in Geneva. In 2001 she was appointed moderator of ministers and deacons at the Protestant Church of Geneva. The position dates back to 1541 when it was created by John Calvin, but Graesslé, after 460 years, was the first woman to occupy it. In 2004 she was appointed the first director of the International Reformation Museum which opened the next year in Geneva, but she resigned the post in 2016. It was indicated that her departure followed disagreement about levels of funding.

#1325

Peter M. Donohue

#24704

Overall Influence

Peter M. Donohue is an American academic administrator and Roman Catholic priest who was inaugurated as Villanova University's 32nd President on September 8, 2006. He had served as the Chair of the Villanova Theatre Department since 1992.

#1326

Josef Fuchs

#52549

Overall Influence

1912 - 2005 (93 years)

Josef Fuchs was a German Roman Catholic theologian and Jesuit priest of the 20th century. Life Born 5 July 1912, Josef Fuchs was a German Jesuit priest, who taught at the Gregorian University in Rome for almost thirty years. In the 1950s, Fuchs's Natural Law and De Castitate were the standard texts for moral theology courses. Fuchs' theology focuses mostly on moral objectivity.

#1327

Kenneth R. Himes

#80453

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Kenneth R. Himes is an American Roman Catholic theologian, currently teaching at Boston College. His most recent book is the coedited work, with Conor M. Kelly, Poverty: Responding Like Jesus. Personal life Kenneth Himes was born on July 2, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York. He became a member of the Order of Friars Minor in August 1975. He was ordained to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church in May 1976. He went to Siena College graduating in 1971 receiving a B.A in history. He then went on to earn a M.A in theology from the Washington Theological Union in 1975. He finished his education at...

#1328

Nikolaos P. Xionis

#59405

Overall Influence

Nikolaos P. Xionis is Professor of Systematic Theology in the Faculty of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Born in Volos, he studied theology at the Aristotle University of Thessalonica. He pursued postgraduate studies at the Jesuit Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology at Frankfurt and at the Centre for Eastern Christian Studies in Ratisbon .

#1329

Timothy S. Healy

#40030

Overall Influence

1923 - 1992 (69 years)

Timothy Stafford Healy was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who straddled the religious and secular life, serving as the vice chancellor of the City University of New York, the president of Georgetown University, and the president of the New York Public Library.

#1330

Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Uta Ranke-Heinemann

#105086

Overall Influence

1927 - 2021 (94 years)

Uta Ranke-Heinemann was a German theologian, academic, and author. In 1969, she was the first woman in the world to be habilitated in Catholic theology. She held a chair of ancient Church history and the New Testament at the University of Duisburg-Essen. When her license to teach was revoked by the bishop because of her critical position in matters of faith, the university created a nondenominational chair of History of Religion. Her 1988 book Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, criticising the Catholic Church's stance on women and sexuality, was published in several editions, and translated in 12 languages.

#1331

Brian Harrison

#160062

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Brian W. Harrison OS is an Australian-born Roman Catholic priest and theologian. Harrison is a prolific writer on religious issues and an emeritus professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico . He speaks Spanish fluently.

#1332

William H. Brackney

William H. Brackney

#102166

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

William Henry Brackney was the Millard R. Cherry Distinguished Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics Emeritus at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and an ordained Baptist minister, accredited by the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches and the American Baptist Churches, USA. He was previously the Dean of Theology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and published numerous books and articles dealing with post-Reformation Protestant thought, particularly the Baptist and Radical Reformation traditions. Brackney did significant work in the areas of global ethics and human rights, and was the director of the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies .

#1333

Enzo Bianchi

#28145

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Enzo Bianchi is an Italian Catholic layman who founded the Bose Monastic Community and served as its first prior from 1965 to 2017. Biography Enzo Bianchi was born on 3 March 1943 in Castel Boglione, Italy. He earned a diploma in accountancy and then studied economics at the University of Turin.

#1334

Todd H. Speidell

#98390

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Dr. Todd H. Speidell is a retired educator, theologian, and ethicist. He continues his work as Editor of Participatio: Journal of the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship and General Editor of The Ray S. Anderson Collection . His most recent jobs were as Lecturer in Theology at Montreat College , Director of Education at The Village Academy of Village Behavioral Health , and Director of College Prep Academy of West Knoxville .

#1335

Charles Sherlock

#97883

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Charles Henry Sherlock is an Australian theologian who previously taught at Ridley College and Trinity College in Melbourne. He is a former registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity . He is author of The Doctrine of Humanity in InterVarsity Press's "Contours of Christian Theology" series, God on the Inside , Uncovering Theology: the depth, scope and utility of Australian theological education , Performing the Gospel on liturgy and lifestyle and more. He was a member of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission for 26 years. He was the last editor of the Anglican newspaper Ch...

#1336

Raymond Helmick

#89272

Overall Influence

Raymond Helmick, SJ was an American Jesuit, peacemaker, theologian and author. Helmick worked as a professor at Boston College and the Boston Theological Institute. Helmick travelled around the world as an emissary for peace. Helmick founded the US Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East.

#1337

Francesco Miccichè

#117142

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Francesco Miccichè is an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Trapani from 1998 to 2012. Biography Miccichè was born into a family of modest means on 16 June 1943 in San Giuseppe Iato, a village outside of Palermo.

#1338

Jonathan Tran

#136944

Overall Influence

Jonathan Tran is a Vietnamese-American theologian, and currently holds the George W. Baines Chair of Religion at Baylor University. Biography Originally from Southern California, Tran received his BA from University of California, Riverside and his M.Div. and Ph.D. from Duke Divinity School where he studied under Stanley Hauerwas. He is an Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology and holds the George W. Baines Chair of Religion in the Department of Religion at Baylor University, where he researches and teaches theology, ethics, and identity theory.

#1339

Giuseppe Pittau

#53259

Overall Influence

1928 - 2014 (86 years)

Giuseppe Pittau was a Roman Catholic titular archbishop. Born in Villacidro, Italy, Pittau was ordained to the priesthood for the Society of Jesus on 18 March 1959. He earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1963. On 28 July 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed Pittau titular archbishop of Castro di Sardegna and secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Pittau was ordained on 26 September 1998. He was also rector of Sophia University in Tokyo, and of the Gregorian University in Rome. On 25 November 2003, Pittau retired. Pittau died on Friday 26 December 2014. Before his service i...

#1340

Muriel Spurgeon Carder

#112693

Overall Influence

1922 - Present (102 years)

Muriel Spurgeon Carder was a Canadian Baptist who was the first woman ordained as a Baptist minister in Ontario and Quebec; she was also a missionary in India. Life Childhood and studies Muriel Spurgeon was born in Woodford Green, England to Elizabeth Frances and Carey Bradford Spurgeon . Carder is related to Charles Spurgeon, a Reformed Baptist minister, and had a brother named David. Her mother, Elizabeth Frances , died in 1953. Her father was born in India to the Reverend Robert Spurgeon. He was a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and an associate of the Society of Actuaries; he was a...

#1341

Serene Jones

#116059

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Lynda Serene Jones is the President and Johnston Family Professor for Religion and Democracy at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly the Titus Street Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and chair of gender, woman, and sexuality studies at Yale University.

#1342

Vincent Kwabena Damuah

#105587

Overall Influence

1930 - 1992 (62 years)

Reverend Father Dr. Vincent Kwabena Damuah was a Catholic priest, theologian and politician in Ghana. He was a member of the Provisional National Defence Council government and was also the founder of the Afrikania Mission. He was also referred to as Osɔfo Okɔmfo Damuah. Dr. Dumuah received a Ph.D. in African Studies from Howard University in 1971.He was the first Ghanaian Catholic priest who diverted back to practice the African traditional religion and help in writing the first African Scriptures called EDU. He formed the African religious group called the Afrikian Mission which is widely ...

#1343

William Marshner

William Marshner

#45838

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

William Harry Marshner is a retired Emeritus Professor of Theology at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. He is a former Chairman of the Theology Department and a Founding Professor, who created that institution's theology and philosophy curricula. He has written extensively on Ethics and Thomistic Theology, and is most widely read as the co-author of Cultural Conservatism: A New National Agenda.

#1344

Jonathan Bartley

#32697

Overall Influence

1971 - Present (53 years)

Jonathan Charles Bartley is a British politician and was Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, a position he shared with Caroline Lucas from 2016 to 2018, and then, from 2018 to 2021, with Siân Berry. He was the Green Party's national Work and Pensions spokesperson and the party's Parliamentary candidate for Streatham in the 2015 general election. He was the Unite to Remain candidate for Dulwich and West Norwood at the 2019 general election.

#1345

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher

#77494

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher is an American Hebrew Bible scholar and author. He is Professor of Theological Studies and Director of New Zealand Study Abroad Programs at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and is frequently quoted on the History Channel's religious programs.

#1346

M. M. Thomas

#80379

Overall Influence

1916 - 1996 (80 years)

Madathilparampil Mammen Thomas was an Indian Christian theologian, social thinker, and activist. He served as Governor of the Indian State, Nagaland , and as the Chairperson of the Central Committee of World Council of Churches .

#1347

Karol Madaj

#85893

Overall Influence

1980 - Present (44 years)

Karol Madaj is a Polish board game designer. Best known for Kolejka, he has designed games for Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, the Polish Humanitarian Organisation, and the National Centre for Culture. In 2013, he was awarded Poland's Gold Cross of Merit for services in the development of historical awareness.

#1348

Franz Grave

#106087

Overall Influence

1932 - 2022 (90 years)

Franz Grave was a German Catholic prelate who served as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Essen from 1988 until his retirement in 2008. Grave was focused on intercultural dialogue with Latin America, and projects aimed at fighting unemployment and helping young people in difficult situations.

#1349

Patrick Gaffney

#119624

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (77 years)

Patrick Daniel Gaffney is an American anthropologist, academic, translator, member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and the current Vice-Chancellor of Notre Dame University Bangladesh. Education and career He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and has taught at the University of Notre Dame, USA, since 1980. For his academic work, he received Kaneb Teaching Award in 2001, and Reinhold Niebuhr Award in 2002. A polyglot fluent in Arabic, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and a competent reader in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Gaffney translated Renaissance of the East by Hans Fortmann in 1972 and With Open Hands by Henri Nouwen in 1973 from Dutch into English.

#1350

Konrad Schmid

#93903

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Konrad Schmid is professor of Ancient Judaism and the Hebrew Bible at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Biography Konrad Schmid is the son of the Old Testament professor and theologian Hans Heinrich Schmid , who also taught at the Universität Zürich. Between 1985 and 1990 he completed his studies in theology at the , and received his Ph.D. in Theology at Zurich in 1995. From 1999–2002 he was Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He served as Member in Residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton and was a Fellow of the Israel Institute for Ad...

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