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).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Theology,
#2001
Georg Sverdrup
1848 - 1907 (59 years)
Georg Sverdrup was a Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian and an educator. Background He was born at Balestrand in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway to Karoline Metella Suur and Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, whose brother Johan Sverdrup was Prime Minister of Norway between 1884 and 1889.
Go to Profile#2002
Karl Ludwig Schmidt
1891 - 1956 (65 years)
Karl Ludwig Schmidt was a German Protestant theologian and professor of New Testament studies at the University of Basel. He taught that the accounts of the New Testament were to be regarded as fixed written versions of oral Gospel tradition. In 1919, his book Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu showed that Mark's chronology is the invention of the evangelist. Using form criticism, Schmidt showed that an editor had assembled the narrative out of individual scenes that did not originally have a chronological order. This finding challenged historians' ability to discern a historical Jesus and he...
Go to Profile#2003
Tommaso Tamburini
1591 - 1675 (84 years)
Tommaso Tamburini was an Italian Jesuit moral theologian. Life Also known under the name of R. P. Thoma Tamburino. He was born at Caltanisetta in Sicily, and entered the Society of Jesus when fifteen years old; there he became distinguished for a talent for teaching. After a successful course of studies he held the professorship of philosophy four years, of dogmatic theology seven years, of moral theology seventeen years, and during thirteen years was rector of various colleges. He died at Palermo.
Go to Profile#2004
Hadrian à Saravia
1532 - 1613 (81 years)
Hadrian à Saravia, sometimes called Hadrian Saravia, Adrien Saravia, or Adrianus Saravia was a Protestant theologian and pastor from the Low Countries who became an Anglican prebend and a member of the First Westminster Company charged by James I of England to produce the King James Version of the Bible.
Go to Profile#2005
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.
Go to Profile#2006
Augustine Reding
1625 - 1692 (67 years)
Augustine Reding was a Swiss Benedictine, the Prince-Abbot of Einsiedeln, and theological writer. Life After completing the classics at the Benedictine College of Einsiedeln, Reding joined the Order of St. Benedict, December 26, 1641. He went on to teach philosophy at the early age of twenty-four. Reding was ordained priest and appointed master of novices in 1649, and obtained the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau in 1654. He was professor of theology at the Benedictine University of Salzburg from 1648 to 1654. He became dean at Einsiedeln...
Go to Profile#2007
Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost
1768 - 1835 (67 years)
Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost was a German theologian, philosopher and classical philologist. He studied theology and philology at the University of Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1792. In 1794 he served as a vespers minister at the university church, then relocated to Plauen as rector at the lyceum. In 1796 he returned to Leipzig as conrector at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, where from 1800 to 1835, he held the post of rector.
Go to Profile#2008
Laurentius Paulinus Gothus
1565 - 1646 (81 years)
Laurentius Paulinus Gothus was a Swedish theologian, astronomer and Archbishop of Uppsala. Biography Gothus was born Lars Paulsson at Söderköping in Östergötland County, Sweden. In 1588, Gothus travelled to Germany and studied in the Rostock University for three years. He was influenced by Pierre de la Ramée and his philosophy.
Go to Profile#2009
Micurà de Rü
1789 - 1847 (58 years)
Micurà de Rü, born Nikolaus Bacher , was an Austrian Ladin-speaking Catholic presbyter and linguist best known for his writings on the Ladin language. Biography He was born as Nikolaus Bacher in vila Rü in San Ćiascian, now part of Badia, South Tyrol.
Go to Profile#2010
Wilhelm Lamormaini
1571 - 1648 (77 years)
Wilhelm Germain Lamormaini was a Jesuit theologian, and an influential figure as confessor of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years' War. Life Lamormaini was born near Dochamps in the Duchy of Luxembourg , since 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands. His father, Everard Germain, was a farmer at the hamlet of Lamormenil, hence the name. Lamormaini studied first at the Jesuit gymnasium of Trier, and thence went to Prague, where he received his doctor's degree, and in 1590 entered the Jesuit Order in Brno. Ordained priest at Bratislava in 1596 and afterwards working as a tea...
Go to Profile#2011
Anthony Konings
1821 - 1884 (63 years)
Anthony Konings was a Redemptorist professor, who wrote works of theology which influenced Catholic life in late nineteenth century America. After a course in humanities he entered the diocesan seminary. Feeling a call to the monastic life, after mature deliberation he entered in 1842 the Redemptorist novitiate at St. Trond, Belgium, and was permitted to make his religious profession on 6 November 1845. His superiors sent him at once to the house of higher studies to afford him time to prepare for the work of teaching. He was ordained priest in Wittem, on 21 December 1884 . After being engage...
Go to Profile#2012
Joseph Pletz
1788 - 1840 (52 years)
Joseph Pletz was an Austrian doctor of theology, imperial chaplain, and abbot of the monastery of the Holy Virgin of Pagrany, Hungary; imperial counselor, consistorial counselor, deacon-emeritus of the metropolitan chapter of St. Stephen at Vienna; director of the theological studies in the Austrian empire, referent of the same assistant of the imperial commission of studies, director and president of the theological faculty; and, in 1835, ex-rector magnificus of the University of Vienna, member of the high schools of Vienna, Pesth, and Padua, etc.
Go to Profile#2013
François Feuardent
1539 - 1610 (71 years)
François Feuardent was a French Franciscan theologian, and preacher of the Ligue. Life Feuardent was born at Coutances, Normandy. Having studied humanities at Bayeux, he joined the Friars Minor. After the novitiate, he was sent to Paris to continue his studies, where he received the degree of Doctor in Theology and taught at the university.
Go to Profile#2014
Johann Friedrich Wucherer
1803 - 1881 (78 years)
Johann Friedrich Wucherer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, author, and co-founder of the Society of Inner Missions with Wilhelm Löhe, based in Neuendettelsau. Early life and education Wucherer was born in Nördlingen and went on to study at the University of Erlangen. After completing his studies he worked for some time as an assistant minister in Nördlingen before he was appointed as the hospital-preacher in Nördlingen in 1832.
Go to Profile#2015
Friedrich Staphylus
1512 - 1564 (52 years)
Friedrich Staphylus was a German theologian, at first a Protestant and then a Catholic convert. Biography Staphylus was born at Osnabrück. His father, Ludeke Stapellage, was an official of the Bishop of Osnabrück. Left an orphan at an early age, he came under the care of an uncle at Danzig, then went to Lithuania and studied at Cracow, after which he studied theology and philosophy at Padua.
Go to Profile#2016
Hervaeus Natalis
1260 - 1323 (63 years)
Hervaeus Natalis was a Dominican theologian, the 14th Master of the Dominicans, and the author of a number of works on philosophy and theology. His many writings include the Summa Totius Logicae, an opusculum once attributed to Thomas Aquinas.
Go to Profile#2017
Gustaf Dalman
1855 - 1941 (86 years)
Gustaf Hermann Dalman was a German Lutheran theologian and orientalist. He did extensive field work in Palestine before the First World War, collecting inscriptions, poetry, and proverbs. He also collected physical articles illustrative of the life of the indigenous farmers and herders of the country, including rock and plant samples, house and farm tools, small archaeological finds, and ceramics. He pioneered the study of biblical and early post-biblical Aramaic, publishing an authoritative grammar and dictionary , as well as other works. His collection of 15,000 historic photographs and 5,...
Go to Profile#2018
Theodor Weber
1836 - 1906 (70 years)
Theodor Hubert Weber was a German theologian and professor of philosophy. Biography Weber was born in Zülpich. He was the second bishop of the German Old Catholic Church, and one of the more important followers of Anton Günther's philosophy.
Go to Profile#2019
Charles William Schaeffer
1813 - 1896 (83 years)
Charles William Schaeffer was a Lutheran clergyman and theologian of the United States. Biography His parents were Frederick Solomon Schaeffer and Catherine Elizabeth Schaeffer. His father was a Lutheran clergyman, as were his uncles David Frederick Schaeffer, Frederick Christian Schaeffer and Charles Frederick Schaeffer, and his grandfather Frederick David Schaeffer. He grew up in the home of his grandfather and that of stepfather Benjamin Keller. He attended Germantown Academy, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832, and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysbu...
Go to Profile#2020
Mathias Hauzeur
1589 - 1676 (87 years)
Mathias Hauzeur was a Belgian Franciscan theologian. Life He was for many years professor of theology. He was a prolific writer and left behind twenty works, while, as a keen controversialist, he attained great celebrity in consequence of his disputation with the Calvinist preacher Gabriel Hotton, which continued from 19 to 22 April 1633, and, was brought by Hauzeur to such a conclusion that the Catholics throughout the vicinity lit bonfires to celebrate his triumph.
Go to Profile#2021
John Craig
1663 - 1731 (68 years)
John Craig was a Scottish mathematician and theologian. Biography Born in Dumfries and educated at the University of Edinburgh, Craig moved to England and became a vicar in the Church of England. A friend of Isaac Newton, he wrote several minor works about the new calculus.
Go to Profile#2022
Jean Baptiste Gonet
1616 - 1681 (65 years)
Jean Baptiste Gonet was a French Dominican theologian. Life He received his primary education in his native place, and there at the age of seventeen entered the Order of St. Dominic. After his religious profession he was sent to the University of Bordeaux, where with unusual ability he devoted himself to the study of philosophy and theology, winning all honours in the customary examinations before advancement. Having received the doctorate he was appointed to the chair of scholastic theology in the university, in which capacity he proved himself a brilliant theologian and an exceptionally gif...
Go to Profile#2023
Karl Heinrich Adelbert Lipsius
1805 - 1861 (56 years)
Karl Heinrich Adelbert Lipsius was a German theologian, philologist and educator. He studied philology and theology at the University of Leipzig, receiving his habilitation in 1827. In the autumn of 1827, he was named conrector at the gymnasium in Gera. In 1832 he began work as a teacher of religious studies at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where in 1847 he became conrector. In 1861 he succeeded Johann Gottfried Stallbaum as academic rector at Thomasschule, but died soon afterwards in July 1861.
Go to Profile#2024
Louis of Granada
1504 - 1588 (84 years)
Louis of Granada, OP , was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. The cause for his canonization has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being Venerable.
Go to Profile#2025
Karl Zittel
1802 - 1871 (69 years)
Karl Zittel was a German theologian, who was a prominent figure in 19th century Liberal Protestantism. He was the father of paleontologist Karl Alfred von Zittel . He studied theology at the University of Jena, and in 1834 became a pastor in Bahlingen. From 1842 onward, he was a member of the second chamber in the Baden Ständeversammlung, where in September 1845, he made a proposal in favor of Religionsfreiheit , a motion that gained notoriety at the time. In 1848 he became a pastor in Heidelberg, and during the same year, became a member of the Frankfurt Parliament as a representative of Kar...
Go to Profile#2026
Augustin Bunea
1857 - 1909 (52 years)
Augustin Bunea was an Austro-Hungarian ethnic Romanian historian and priest within the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. Biography Origins and role in Blaj Bunea was born in Vad, a village in the Țara Făgărașului region of Transylvania, then part of the Austrian Empire. He attended primary school from 1864 to 1870, there and in nearby Ohaba. He went to a gymnasium in Brașov until the spring of 1877, when he was briefly transferred to Blaj. While in Brașov, he and classmate Andrei Bârseanu edited a magazine by hand; it was called Conversațiuni. Jurnal literar. In the magazine, Bunea published 9...
Go to Profile#2027
Valerian Șesan
1878 - 1940 (62 years)
Valerian Șesan was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian theologian. Born in Slobozia Rarancei, in Austrian-ruled Bukovina, his father was a Romanian Orthodox priest. From 1888 to 1896, he attended the Romanian gymnasium in Czernowitz , followed by the theology faculty of Czernowitz University from 1896 to 1900. After receiving a doctorate from that institution in 1901, he studied at the law faculties of Czernowitz, Vienna and Prague, obtaining a law doctorate at Prague in 1916. Meanwhile, in 1906-1907, he took specialty courses at Athens University and in Jerusalem. Then, from 1907 to 1908, he studied at the theological academies of Kiev, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Go to Profile#2028
Nicholas-Joseph Laforêt
1823 - 1872 (49 years)
Nicholas-Joseph Laforêt was a Belgian Catholic philosopher and theologian. Life After the regular theological course at the seminary of Namur, he entered the Catholic University of Leuven , where he applied himself especially to the study of Oriental languages, Holy Scripture, and philosophy. In 1848, he was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy at the university, and, the same year, received the doctorate in theology.
Go to Profile#2029
Adam de Wodeham
1298 - 1358 (60 years)
Adam of Wodeham, OFM was a philosopher and theologian. Currently, Wodeham is best known for having been a secretary of William Ockham and for his interpretations of John Duns Scotus. But Wodeham was also an influential thinker in his own right who made valuable philosophical contributions during his life.
Go to Profile#2030
Johann Gotthelf Lindner
1729 - 1776 (47 years)
Johann Gotthelf Lindner was a German university teacher and writer at the time of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Johann Gotthelf Lindner was the elder brother to Ehregott Friedrich Lindner, also born in Schmolsin, and to Gottlob Immanuel Lindner , born in the city of Königsberg. He was therefore also an uncle to the journalist-doctor Friedrich Ludwig Lindner .
Go to Profile#2031
Tristán Narvaja
1819 - 1877 (58 years)
Tristán Narvaja was an Argentine and Uruguayan judge, professor, theologian, and politician. Biography Narvaja was born on March 17, 1819, in Córdoba, Argentina, to father Pedro Narvaja Dávila and mother Mercedes Montelles. He attended school in his hometown Colegio de los Franciscanos and later in Buenos Aires, where he received his doctorate in theology and jurisprudence.
Go to Profile#2032
Jean-François Baltus
1667 - 1743 (76 years)
Jean-François Baltus was a French Jesuit theologian. Life Baltus was born at Metz and entered the Society of Jesus on 21 November 1682. He taught humanities at Dijon; rhetoric at Pont-à-Mousson; and Scripture, Hebrew, and theology at Strasburg, where he was also rector of the university. In 1717, he was general censor of books at Rome, and later rector of Chalon, Dijon, Metz, Pont-à-Mousson, and Châlons. He died at Reims.
Go to Profile#2033
Matthew of Kraków
1355 - 1410 (55 years)
Matthew of Kraków was a German-Polish scholar and priest of the fourteenth century. Early life He was born in Kraków, the son of a German immigrant town-clerk, but the view, once generally held, that he was descended from the Pomeranian noble family of Kraków, is now discredited . His father was probably a German notary in Kraków. Entering the University of Prague, Matthew graduated bachelor of arts in 1355 and master in 1357, and later filled for several terms the office of dean in the same faculty.
Go to Profile#2034
Nicola Spedalieri
1740 - 1795 (55 years)
Nicola Spedalieri was an Italian priest, theologian, and philosopher. Life He studied and was ordained a priest in the seminary of Monreale, then among the most prominent in Sicily. In Monreale, he was appointed professor of philosophy and mathematics, and later of theology. At the same time he cultivated the arts of poetry, music, and painting. Disgusted at the opposition stirred up by certain theological theses, which were branded as heretical at Palermo, but approved at Rome, he withdrew from Monreale to Rome , where for ten years, while although leading a penurious life, he participated in fruitful study and labour.
Go to Profile#2035
Jeremy Collier
1650 - 1726 (76 years)
Jeremy Collier was an English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian. Life Born Jeremiah Collier, in Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire, Collier was educated at Caius College, University of Cambridge, receiving the BA and MA . A supporter of James II, he refused, as a nonjuror to take the oath of allegiance to William III and Mary II after the Glorious Revolution. Furthering his obvious disapproval of the new monarchs, he publicly absolved two Jacobites who had conspired to assassinate the King and Queen. In 1713 he was consecrated a non-juror bishop by George Hickes and two Scottish b...
Go to Profile#2036
Salimbene di Adam
1221 - 1288 (67 years)
Salimbene di Adam, O.F.M., was an Italian Franciscan friar, theologian, and chronicler. Salimbene was one of the most celebrated Franciscan chroniclers of the High Middle Ages. His Cronica is a fundamental source for Italian history of the 13th century.
Go to Profile#2037
Alfred Cauchie
1860 - 1922 (62 years)
Alfred Cauchie was a professor of history at the Catholic University of Leuven. Life Cauchie was born in Haulchin, Hainaut, on 26 October 1860, and was educated at the minor seminary of Bonne-Espérance in Estinnes. In 1882 he entered the major seminary, receiving priestly ordination from Isidore-Joseph du Rousseaux, bishop of Tournai, on 25 October 1885. After ordination he was sent to the Catholic University of Leuven to pursue studies in History, graduating licentiate in 1888. His bishop then sent him to Rome in 1888-1889, where he worked in the Vatican Secret Archives, which had been opened to researchers by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.
Go to Profile#2038
Erik Gabrielsson Emporagrius
1606 - 1674 (68 years)
Erik Gabrielsson Emporagrius was a Swedish professor and bishop. Erik Emporagrius was born in Torsåker in Gästrikland, son of Gabriel Emporagrius, the vicar there. He studied at Uppsala University, where he was awarded a master's degree in 1632, and at universities abroad. On his return to Sweden in 1637, he was appointed professor of physics at Uppsala, but after a few years he exchanged this position for a chair in the faculty of theology. In 1645 he was appointed first court chaplain to Queen Christina, in 1649 pastor primarius in Stockholm, and in 1664 Bishop of Strängnäs.
Go to Profile#2039
William Laurence Sullivan
1872 - 1935 (63 years)
William Laurence Sullivan was an American Unitarian clergyman, prolific author and literary critic, whose Letters to His Holiness, Pope Pius X , was the last work by a U.S. author to have been placed on Vatican's list of prohibited books .
Go to Profile#2040
Frederik Julius Bech
1758 - 1822 (64 years)
Frederik Julius Bech was a Danish-Norwegian theologian and politician. He took part in the Meeting of Notables in Eidsvoll on February 16, 1814, and he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Oslo from 1805 to 1822. As the head of the Church of Norway, he crowned Charles III John of Norway at Nidaros Cathedral in 1818.
Go to Profile#2041
F. S. Sampson
1814 - 1854 (40 years)
Francis Smith Sampson was an acting President of Hampden–Sydney College from 1847 to 1848. Biography Sampson was born in Dover Mills, Virginia to Richard Sampson, an eminent and respected agriculturist. He began studying theology in 1830 under his maternal uncle, Rev. Thornton Rogers of Albemarle. Sampson continued his studies at the University of Virginia, enrolling on September 10, 1831, and graduating with the rare, prestigious degree of M.A. in July 1836. In November of that year, Sampson enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary then in Hampden Sydney, Virginia where he became a teacher...
Go to Profile#2042
Peter Baro
1534 - 1599 (65 years)
Peter Baro was a French Huguenot minister, ordained by John Calvin, but later in England a critic of some Calvinist theological positions. His views in relation to the Lambeth Articles cost him his position as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He was a forerunner of views, to be called Arminian or Laudian, more common a generation later in England.
Go to Profile#2043
Theobald of Étampes
1080 - 1120 (40 years)
Theobald of Étampes was a medieval schoolmaster and theologian hostile to priestly celibacy. He is the first scholar known to have lectured at Oxford and is considered a forerunner of Oxford University.
Go to Profile#2044
Max Reischle
1858 - 1905 (47 years)
Max Wilhelm Theodore Reischle was an Austrian-born German Protestant systematic theologian. He was born in Vienna, and died in Tübingen. In 1887, he received his doctorate at the University of Tübingen, later working as a professor at the Karlsgymnasium in Stuttgart . In 1892, he was appointed a full professor of practical theology at the University of Giessen, then become a professor of systematic theology at the University of Göttingen . During the following year, he accepted a call to Halle as chair of systematic theology.
Go to Profile#2045
Herbert Henry Farmer
1892 - 1981 (89 years)
Herbert Henry Farmer was a British Presbyterian minister, philosopher of religion, and academic. Having served in pastoral ministry from 1919 to 1931, he moved into academia as a member of the staff of Hartford Seminary in the United States. After four years, he returned to England where he had been appointed Barbour Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster College, Cambridge in 1935. He was additionally the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge . He retired in 1960, was appointed Emeritus Professor by Westminster Colle...
Go to Profile#2046
Franz Georg Benkert
1790 - 1859 (69 years)
Franz Georg Benkert was a German Roman Catholic theologian and historical writer. Life Benkert was born at Nordheimordheim, near the mountain district of Rhön, Germany. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium in Münnerstadt he studied theology at Würzburg and was ordained priest in 1816. He was first a curate at Gaurettersheim and in 1821, was made vice-principal of the theological seminary at Würzburg.
Go to Profile#2047
Frederick Homes Dudden
1874 - 1955 (81 years)
Frederick Homes Dudden was an academic administrator and theological scholar. He was Chaplain to King George V and George VI , Master of Pembroke College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University .
Go to Profile#2048
William Turner
1871 - 1936 (65 years)
William Turner was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo in New York from 1919 until his death in 1936. He was ordained in 1893, and spent his early years as a priest teaching in various institutions. Upon his appointment as Bishop of Buffalo he was occupied with pastoral duties in a very large diocese.
Go to Profile#2049
Joannes Zonaras
1074 - 1145 (71 years)
Joannes or John Zonaras was a Byzantine Greek historian, chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople . Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held the offices of head justice and private secretary to the emperor, but after Alexios' death, he retired to the monastery on the Island of Hagia Glykeria, , where he spent the rest of his life writing books.
Go to Profile#2050
Gabriel Gifford
1554 - 1629 (75 years)
Gabriel Gifford OSB was an English Roman Catholic Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Reims. Life Born William Gifford in Hampshire to John Gifford, Esq., of Weston-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Throckmorton, Knight of Coughton, Warwickshire, he was sent to Oxford in 1569, where he was entrusted to the care of John Bridgewater, President of Lincoln College, who was a Catholic at heart.
Go to Profile