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List of the most influential people in Theology,

#2551

George Wishart

1703 - 1785 (82 years)

George Wishart was a Scottish minister who was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1748. He was also Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King of England and Dean of the Chapel Royal.

#2552

Francisco Foreiro

1523 - 1581 (58 years)

Francisco Foreiro was a Portuguese Dominican theologian and biblist. Biography Born in 1523 in Lisbon, he studied arts and theology and entered among the Dominicans in February 1539. King John III sent him to study theology in the university of Paris and, on his return to Lisbon, he appointed Foreiro his preacher. Prince Louis at the same time entrusted to him the education of his son, António.

#2553

Louis Bancel

1628 - 1685 (57 years)

Louis Bancel was a French Dominican theologian. Life When very young he entered the Dominican Order at Avignon. Even before his ordination to the priesthood he was appointed lector of philosophy. He afterwards taught theology at Avignon.

#2554

Raffaele Venusti

Raffaele Venusti was an Italian Catholic apologist. Biography He was born at Tirano, Valtellina, northern Italy, about the end of the fifteenth century. He joined the Canons Regular of SS. Salvatore, devoting himself to theological and canonical studies, and winning fame as a powerful Catholic controversialist against the Lutherans and Calvinists.

#2555

James Parkes

1896 - 1981 (85 years)

James William Parkes was an Anglican clergyman, historian, and social activist. With the publication of The Jew and His Neighbour in 1929, he created the foundations of a Christian re-evaluation of Judaism. He also published under the pseudonym John Hadham.

#2556

Andrija Balović

1721 - 1784 (63 years)

Andrija Balović was a Roman Catholic priest, historian, writer, translator and theologian, native of Montenegro. Biography Born in Perast to a well-known patrician household Balovići, a family with six children. Andrija was the son of Marko Balović, and brother of Josip Balović, also the nephew of Julije Balović.

#2557

John C. Young

1803 - 1857 (54 years)

John Clarke Young was an American educator and pastor who was the fourth president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of Dickinson College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he entered the ministry in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1828. He accepted the presidency of Centre College in 1830, holding the position until his death in 1857, making him the longest-serving president in the college's history. He is regarded as one of the college's best presidents, as he increased the endowment of the college more than five-fold during his term and increased the graduating class size from t...

#2558

William May Wightman

1808 - 1882 (74 years)

Bishop William May Wightman was an American educator and clergyman. He served as the President of Wofford College from 1853 to 1859. He served as the Chancellor of Southern University in Greensboro, Alabama from 1860 to 1866. He became a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1866.

#2559

Francesco Zabarella

Francesco Zabarella

1360 - 1417 (57 years)

Francesco Zabarella was an Italian cardinal and canonist. Appointment as bishop Born in Padua, he studied jurisprudence at Bologna and at Florence, where he graduated in 1385. He taught Canon law at Florence until 1390 and at Padua until 1410. Having taken minor orders in 1385, he became vicar of bishop Acciajuoli of Florence and pastor at the Church of Santa Maria in Pruncta near Florence. In 1398 he was made archpriest of the cathedral at Padua. The Paduan Government repeatedly employed him on diplomatic missions, and towards the end of 1404, he was one of two ambassadors sent to King Charl...

#2560

Andrew Sledd

1870 - 1939 (69 years)

Andrew Warren Sledd was an American theologian, university professor and university president. A native of Virginia, he was the son of a prominent Methodist minister, and was himself ordained as a minister after earning his bachelor's and master's degrees. He later earned a second master's degree and his doctorate.

#2561

William Adams Brown

1865 - 1943 (78 years)

William Adams Brown was an American minister, professor and philanthropist. Early life Brown was born in New York City on December 29, 1865, and named after his maternal grandfather, the Rev. William Adams. He was the eldest son of John Crosby Brown and Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown. His siblings were Eliza Coe Adams, Mary Magoun Brown, James Crosby Brown, Thatcher Magoun Brown, and Amy Brighthurst Brown .

#2562

Petrus Opmeer

1526 - 1595 (69 years)

Petrus Opmeer was a Dutch Catholic historian and controversialist. According to his biographer Valerius Andreas, Opmeer was a friend of "painters, sculptors and architects", including Maarten van Heemskerck, Pieter Aertsen, Willem Danielsz van Tetrode, Frans Floris, Antonis Mor and Philip Galle.

#2563

Laurence Clarkson

1615 - 1667 (52 years)

Laurence Clarkson , sometimes called Claxton, born in Preston, Lancashire, was an English theologian and accused heretic. He was the most outspoken and notorious of the loose collection of radical Protestants known as the Ranters.

#2564

Roger Goad

1538 - 1610 (72 years)

Roger Goad was an English academic theologian, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and three times Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Life He was born at Horton, Buckinghamshire, and was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted a scholar 1 September 1555, and a fellow 2 September 1558. He graduated B.A. in 1559, and commenced M.A. in 1563. On 19 January 1566 he was enjoined to study theology, and he proceeded B.D. in 1569. At this period he was master of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, where one of his pupils was George Abbot.

#2565

Walter of Saint Victor

1150 - 1180 (30 years)

Walter of Saint Victor was a mystic philosopher and theologian, and an Augustinian canon of Paris. Nothing is known about Walter except that, in about the year 1175, he was prior of St. Victor's Abbey, Paris; that about the time of the Third Lateran Council he wrote the celebrated polemic, Contra quatuor labyrinthos Franciae; and that he died about the year 1180.

#2566

Theodor Schott

1835 - 1899 (64 years)

Theodor Schott was a German Protestant theologian, historian and librarian, known for his studies involving the history of French Protestantism. From 1853 he studied theology and philosophy at Tübinger Stift in Tübingen, and after finishing his studies, spent two years as a curate at parishes in Württemberg. From 1859 he taught classes at Hofwyl near Bern, and later on, worked as a religious instructor at the gymnasium in Stuttgart. In 1867 he became a pastor of a parish in Berg, a suburb of Stuttgart. From 1873 up until his death, he served as a librarian at the royal public library in Stutt...

#2567

Eustachy Trepka

1510 - 1559 (49 years)

Eustachy Trepka was a Polish Lutheran theologian, pastor, and translator. Trepka's family had its origins near Sieradz and Wielkopolska. According to some sources his family was nicknamed Nękanda with a coat of arms Topór.

#2568

Ibn Hamdan

1206 - 1295 (89 years)

Abū Abd-Allah Najm al-Dīn Aḥmad bin Ḥamdān bin Shabīb bin Ḥamdān al-Ḥarrānī al-Ḥanbalī commonly known as Ibn Hamdan—was a Hanbalite Muslim scholar and judge . Ibn Hamdan was born and raised in Harran and later in his life went on trips to Damascus, Aleppo and Jerusalem, later settling in Cairo. Ibn Hamdan was appointed judge in Cairo and he lived there until his death in 1295.

#2569

Hildebert

1056 - 1133 (77 years)

Hildebert of Lavardin was a French ecclesiastic, hagiographer and theologian. From 1096–97 he was bishop of Le Mans, then from 1125 until his death archbishop of Tours. Life Hildebert was born of poor parents at Lavardin, near Vendôme, and was intended for the church. He was probably a pupil of Berengar of Tours, and became master of the school at Le Mans; in 1091 he was made archdeacon and in 1096 or 1097 bishop of Le Mans. He had to face the hostility of a section of his clergy and also of the English king, William II, who captured Le Mans and carried the bishop with him to England for abo...

#2570

William Erbery

1604 - 1654 (50 years)

William Erbery or Erbury was a Welsh clergyman and radical Independent theologian. He was the father of the militant Quaker Dorcas Erbery. Life Erbery was born in Roath, Cardiff. He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford, England in 1623.

#2571

Felix-Joseph Barbelin

1808 - 1869 (61 years)

The Reverend Felix-Joseph Barbelin, S.J., called the "Apostle of Philadelphia",was a 19th-century Jesuit priest influential in the development of the Catholic community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

#2572

Diego Ruiz de Montoya

1562 - 1632 (70 years)

Diego Ruiz de Montoya was a Spanish Jesuit theologian. Life He entered the Society of Jesus in 1572 and was professed on 22 July 1592. He taught philosophy in Granada, moral theology for one year in Baeza, and theology for about twenty years in Cordova and Seville. For a time he was rector of the College of Cordova, and represented his province, Andalusia, at the Sixth General Congregation.

#2573

Joseph McCormick

1733 - Present (293 years)

Joseph McCormick FRSE FSA was a Scottish clergyman who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1782 and was a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783.

#2574

William Robertson

William Robertson was a Scottish Hebraist. He was educated at Edinburgh University, taught Hebrew in London from 1653–1680, then in 1680 was appointed lecturer in Hebrew at Cambridge University. Life A graduate of Edinburgh, he is identified by Edgar Cardew Marchant in the Dictionary of National Biography as probably the William Robertson who was laureated by Duncan Forester in April 1645. From 1653 to 1680 he lived in the City of London and taught Hebrew. In 1680 he was appointed university teacher of Hebrew at Cambridge at a salary of £20 a year.

#2575

Adam Boreel

1603 - 1667 (64 years)

Adam Boreel was a Dutch theologian and Hebrew scholar. He was one of the founders of the Amsterdam College; the Collegiants were also often called Boreelists, and regarded as a small sect. Others involved in the Collegiants were Daniel van Breen, Michiel Coomans, Jacob Otto van Halmael and the Mennonite Galenus Abrahamsz de Haan.

#2576

Christen Worm

1672 - 1737 (65 years)

Christen Willumsen Worm was a Danish theologian and Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand from 1711 until his death. Worm began his career as a scholar and a priest. Over the course of his tenure as bishop, his authority as primus inter pares was repeatedly challenged.

#2577

James Dixon

1758 - 1840 (82 years)

James Dixon was an Irish Catholic priest who was transported to Australia and in 1803 became the first Catholic priest permitted to minister there. Early life and education James Dixon was born in 1758 in Castlebridge, County Wexford. As was common for Irish priests, he trained for the priesthood overseas, at the universities of Salamanca and Louvain, then became curate at Crossabeg near Wexford. During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 he was arrested and tried for involvement and convicted, although there was considerable evidence that he was innocent. He was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to transportation for life to New South Wales.

#2578

Rajmund Zamanja

Rajmund Zamanja

1587 - 1647 (60 years)

Rajmund Zamanja or Raymundo Giamagnik was a Croatian theologian, philosopher and linguist from Dubrovnik. Biography He was born in Dubrovnik in 1587. He joined the Dominicans in 1601 from which he learned philosophy and theology. Four years later, in 1605, he went to the end of the study in Bologna. In 1612 he returned to Dubrovnik as a lecturer. Three times he was a general vicar of the Dominicans. Fourteen years later, in 1626, he established the first public gymnasium on the ground floor of the Dominican monastery . There he was a teacher and he emphasized the importance of learning Croat...

#2579

John Saltmarsh

1609 - 1647 (38 years)

John Saltmarsh was an English religious radical, "One of the most gentle tongued of controversialists", writer and preacher. He supported the Covenant and was chaplain in Thomas Fairfax's army. The Dictionary of National Biography describes his theology as "Calvinistic in its base, but improved by practical knowledge of men". William Haller called him "that strange genius, part poet and part whirling dervish". He preached Free Grace theology, and published on the topics of Peace, Love and Unity.

#2580

Hutchens Chew Bishop

1859 - 1937 (78 years)

The Reverend Dr. Hutchens Chew Bishop was an Episcopal priest who spent most of his career in New York City. He was rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Harlem for 47 years. The church is the oldest black Episcopal parish in New York. The church was founded by abolitionists who laid the first stone in 1819.

#2581

James Haldenston

James Haldenston

James Haldenston or James Haldenstoun was an Augustinian churchman from 15th-century Scotland. Probably from somewhere in eastern Fife, Haldenston became an Augustinian at St Andrews, earned several degrees on the continent, and became prior of May before becoming prior of St Andrews, head of the wealthiest and most important religious house in Scotland.

#2582

Robert Boyd

1578 - 1627 (49 years)

Robert Boyd of Trochrig was a Scottish theological writer, teacher and poet. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and after attending lectures by Robert Rollock, prosecuted his studies in France, and became a minister in the French Church. All accounts represent him as a most accomplished scholar. A friend said of him, with perhaps some exaggeration, that he was more eloquent in French than in his native tongue; and Livingstone tells us that he spoke Latin with perfect fluency, but that he had heard him say, if he had his choice, he would rather express himself in Greek than in any other language.

#2583

Eduard Poppius

1576 - 1624 (48 years)

Eduard Poppius was a Dutch pastor and theologian. He was one of the founders of the Remonstrant Brotherhood and a participant to the Synod of Dordrecht. Biography Poppius was a son of the pastor Pieter Eduardsz Poppius. He studied theology at Leiden University. After his studies, he became a minister in Amstelveen in 1599. From 1609 to 1619 he was a minister of the Reformed Church of Gouda. He was appointed in Gouda because of his choice for the Arminian ideas of Jacobus Arminius, who rejected the doctrine of double predestination.

#2584

Paul Eber

1511 - 1569 (58 years)

Paul Eber was a German Lutheran theologian, reformer and hymnwriter, known for the hymn for the dying, "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott". Life He was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg then Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon. In 1541 he was appointed professor of Latin grammar at Wittenberg, and in 1557 professor of the Old Testament at Wittenberg University. His range of learning was wide, and he published a handbook of Jewish history, a historical calendar intended to supersede the Roman Saints' Calendar, and a revision of t...

#2585

Joannes Bunderius

1482 - 1557 (75 years)

Joannes Bunderius was a Flemish Catholic theologian and critic of Protestantism. He was born and died in Ghent. He entered the Dominican Order in his native city about 1500, and after having made his religious profession was sent to Leuven to pursue his studies in philosophy and theology. He obtained the degree of Lector in Sacred Theology, and in 1517 returned to Ghent, where, until near the close of his life, he taught philosophy and theology. While occupied in teaching he filled the office of Prior of the convent of Ghent three times , and discharged the duties of General Inquisitor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tournai.

#2586

Pedro Cornejo de Pedrosa

1536 - 1618 (82 years)

Pedro Cornejo de Pedrosa was a Spanish Carmelite, theologian, and professor of the University of Salamanca . Life Cornejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, and entered the Carmelite order at a young age. He received his doctorate from the University of Salamanca, and then taught philosophy and theology at the same institution.

#2587

Henry of Harclay

1270 - 1317 (47 years)

Henry Harclay was an English medieval philosopher and university chancellor. Biography Harclay was born in the Diocese of Carlisle near the English and Scottish borders. Harclay's family descended from "an old but minor knightly family" of modest origins that gave them their surname Harclay from Hartley; the family name had "considerable variation in the spelling… including: Herkeley, Harkeley, Archilay, Harcla, [etc.]" . Harclay had one sister and six brothers; one of which also brings celebrity to the family name. Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle was a controversial figure in his time ...

#2588

Phillip Norreys

1301 - 1401 (100 years)

Phillip Norreys, Irish theologian, fl. 1427-1465. A native of the diocese of Dublin, Ireland, Norreys made a successful career for himself in the church and Oxford University. He was vicar of Dundalk from 1427, and Doctor of Theology at Oxford by 1435. He was later successively canon, prebendary and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, occupying the latter post by 1457. He also held the post of rector of Trim.

#2589

Franz Oberthür

1745 - 1831 (86 years)

Franz Oberthür was a German Roman Catholic scholar who edited an 18th-century edition of Josephus once owned by Thomas Jefferson. In 1773 he was appointed professor of dogmatics and polemics at the University of Würzburg. He is best known for his efforts involving reform within the church and the education system. In 1806 he founded the Gesellschaft zur Vervollkommung der mechanischen Künste .

#2590

Melchior Hittorp

1525 - 1584 (59 years)

Melchior Hittorp was a German Roman Catholic theologian and liturgical writer. His interests included the liturgical forms of early Christianity. Life On the completion of his studies he obtained the degree of Licentiate of Theology, and was appointed Canon at S. Maria ad Gradus. In 1593 he was elected dean of the collegiate church of St. Cunibert.

#2591

Henri-Michel Guedier de Saint-Aubin

1695 - 1741 (46 years)

Henri-Michel Guedier de Saint-Aubin was a French theologian. He was born in Gournay-en-Bray on 17 June 1695. He studied at Paris, and received the doctor's degree from the Sorbonne Oct. 29,1723. He became professor in that institution in 1730, and its librarian in 1736. Some time after he obtained the abbey of St. Vulmer. He was acquainted with Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, English, and Italian, besides history, theology, and kindred sciences. For fourteen years he decided all cases of conscience presented to the Sorbonne. He died in Paris on 27 September 1742.

#2592

Alexander Carson

1776 - 1844 (68 years)

Alexander Carson was an Irish Baptist minister. He was known as an author, pastor-teacher and theologian. Life Carson studied in Glasgow and was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in Tobermore, County Londonderry in 1798. After several years he left the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and published Reasons for Separating from the General Synod of Ulster as justification of his action, where he stated:

#2593

Samuel Eaton

1596 - 1665 (69 years)

Samuel Eaton was an English independent divine. Life Eaton was the third son of Richard Eaton, vicar of Great Budworth, Cheshire, and was born in the hamlet of Crowley in Great Budworth. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1624 and M.A. 1628.

#2594

Sixtus of Siena

Sixtus of Siena

1520 - 1569 (49 years)

Sixtus of Siena was a Jew who converted to Roman Catholicism, and became a Roman Catholic theologian. Biography He began his career as a Franciscan preacher, speaking throughout Italy. Though he was convicted to die in Rome for the crime of heresy or recidivism, he was saved by a Dominican inquisitor, the future Pope Pius V, who repealed the condemnation when Sixtus recanted and pledged to transfer to the Dominican Order instead. He is considered one of the two most outstanding Dominican scholars of his generation. He had as a master Lancelotto Politi, some of whose writings he later publicly criticised.

#2595

Daniel Gerdes

1698 - 1765 (67 years)

Daniel Gerdes was a German Calvinist theologian and historian. He became professor at the University of Duisburg in 1726, and at the University of Groningen in 1736. While broadly supporting Protestant freedom of conscience, Gerdes drew a line in his attacks on the Mennonite minister Johannes Stinstra. In that case Gerdes used the views of Samuel Werenfels, tolerant and well thought of by Benjamin Hoadley, to condemn Stinstra.

#2596

Juan Bautista

1555 - 1700 (145 years)

Juan Bautista was a Mexican Franciscan theologian and writer. Life He joined the Franciscans in his native city, and taught theology and metaphysics at the convent of St. Francis of Mexico. He was also a definitor of the province, and became Guardian of Tezcuco twice , of Tlatelolco , and of Tacuba in 1605.

#2597

Peter of Bergamo

1400 - 1482 (82 years)

Peter of Bergamo also called Peter of Almadura was an Italian Dominican theologian. Life Born in Bergamo in the early 15th century, he entered the Dominican Order in his native town, and completed his studies at the University of Bologna, where he received his degree. In the Dominican House of Studies he filled the offices of Master of Students and Bachelor of the Studium.

#2598

Peter Nead

1796 - 1877 (81 years)

Peter Nead was an American preacher in the German Baptist Brethren church that descended from the Schwarzenau Brethren. He wrote several theological works, which were influential in the Old German Baptist Brethren and related churches, perhaps the most prominent being "A Vindication of Primitive Christianity."

#2599

Simon Oomius

1628 - 1706 (78 years)

Simon Oomius or Ooms was a Dutch reformed minister and theologian. He played an important role in the Nadere Reformatie. He was born on 1 March 1630 in the village of Heenvliet, on the island of Voorne-Putten. He was the youngest of the twenty-one children of Cornelis Oomius, a preacher in Heenvliet and a native of Turnhout.

#2600

Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah al-Maghrawi al-Wahrani was an Algerian Maliki scholar of Islamic law, active in the Maghreb from the end of the fifteenth century until his death. He was identified as the author of the 1504 fatwa commonly named the Oran fatwa, instructing the Muslims in Spain about how to secretly practice Islam, and granting comprehensive dispensations for them to publicly conform to Christianity and performing acts normally forbidden in Islam when necessary to survive. Because of his authorship of the fatwa he is often referred to as "the Mufti of Oran", although he likel...

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