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.
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List of the most influential people in Theology,
#3451
Henry James
1864 - 1949 (85 years)
Henry Lewis James was Dean of Bangor from 1934 to 1940 and an author of theological works in Welsh. Life James was born on 18 March 1864 and educated at Ystrad Meurig School, Christ College, Brecon and Jesus College, Oxford where he obtained a second-class degree in Literae Humaniores. He was ordained in 1887 and served as a curate in Llandudno, later becoming warden of Bangor Church Hostel and, in 1901, rector of Llangefni. He was rector of Tredington, Worcestershire before becoming rector of Aberffraw and, between 1926 and 1930, rector of Dolgellau. Having been made an honorary canon of...
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Georg Rörer
1492 - 1557 (65 years)
Georg Rörer was a German Lutheran theologian, clergyman and Protestant reformer. Georg Rörer began his studies at Leipzig University in 1511. He was awarded his Magister in 1520. From 1522, he continued his studies at the University of Wittenberg, where he met Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen. He was one of the first clergymen ordained to the office of deacon by Martin Luther in 1525.
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Abd Allah al-Qaysi
Abu Muhammad Abd Allah bin Muhammad bin Qasim bin Hilal bin Yazid bin 'Imran al-'Absi al-Qaysi was an early Muslim jurist and theologian. Life Born in Islamic Spain, Ibn Qasim moved to Iraq for a time, and studied under Dawud al-Zahiri. He left the Malikite school of Muslim jurisprudence for the Zahirite branch, and was considered by Christopher Melchert to be the first Zahirite in the region. Ibn Qasim copied his teacher's books by hand and was responsible for spreading them throughout Al-Andalus.
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Simon of Tournai
1130 - 1201 (71 years)
Simon of Tournai was a professor at the University of Paris in the late twelfth century. His date of birth is uncertain, but he was teaching before 1184, as he signed a document at the same time as Gerard de Pucelle, the Bishop of Coventry, who died that year.
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Pietro Colonna Galatino
1460 - 1540 (80 years)
Pietro Colonna Galatino , also known as Petrus Galatinus, was an Italian Friar Minor, philosopher, theologian and Orientalist. Biography Galatino was born at Galatina, in Apulia. He received the habit as early as 1480, studied Oriental languages in Rome and was appointed lector at the convent of Ara Coeli; he also held the office of provincial in the province of Bari, and that of penitentiary under Leo X.
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Bardo
980 - 1051 (71 years)
Bardo was the Archbishop of Mainz from 1031 until 1051, the Abbot of Werden from 1030 until 1031, and the Abbot of Hersfeld in 1031. Bardo was born in Oppershofen in the Wetterau. He was educated and trained at the Abbey of Fulda, where he was selected to be the deacon and provost of Neuenberg in 1018. Towards the end of March in 1029 the Emperor Conrad visited Fulda, who appointed him in the following year the Abbot of Werden. He was said to have taken special attention to the obedience of the monks and quality of their service, and he established a hospitality and care service for those injured in war.
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Alexander Arbuthnot
1538 - 1583 (45 years)
Alexander Arbuthnot was a Scottish ecclesiastic poet, "an eminent divine, and zealous promoter of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland". He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in both 1573 and 1577.
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Euthymius the Athonite
955 - 1028 (73 years)
Euthymius the Athonite was a Georgian monk, philosopher and scholar, who is venerated as a saint. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 13. Euthymius was a Georgian, the ethnonym used by the Byzantines as Iberian, that came from the Kingdom of the Iberians. The son of John the Iberian and nephew of the Tornike Eristavi, Euthymius was taken as a political hostage to Constantinople but was later released and became a monk joining the Great Lavra of Athanasios on Mount Athos. He subsequently became the leader of the Georgian Iviron monastery, which had been founded by his father, and emerged as one of the finest Eastern Christian theologians and scholars of his age.
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Jean de Gagny
1401 - 1549 (148 years)
Jean de Gagny was a French theologian. He was at the Collège de Navarre in 1524. He became Rector of the University of Paris, in 1531, and Almoner Royal, in 1536. In 1546 he became Chancellor of the University of Paris.
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Timoléon Cheminais de Montaigu
1652 - 1689 (37 years)
Timoléon Cheminais de Montaigu was a French Jesuit pulpit orator. Biography He was born in Paris on 3 January 1652; he entered the Society of Jesus at fifteen. After teaching rhetoric and the humanities at Orléans, Cheminais was assigned to the work of preaching. Bayle declares that "many regarded him as the equal of Bourdaloue", though others consider this exaggerated.
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Guerric of Saint-Quentin
Guerric of Saint-Quentin was a Dominican friar, theologian and teacher at the University of Paris from 1233/5 until 1242. He wrote several works on biblical exegesis and theology. Along with Alexander of Hales, he is often credited with inventing the genre of the quodlibeta.
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Bartholomäus Bernhardi of Feldkirchen
1487 - 1551 (64 years)
Bartholomäus Bernardi was the rector and a professor of physics and philosophy at the University of Wittenberg during the time of Martin Luther. He became a Protestant reformer. He was also pastor of the congregation in Kemberg, Saxony—15.2 kilometers south of Wittenberg— and the third Lutheran priest to marry.
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Benedicto Sánchez de Herrera
1598 - 1674 (76 years)
Benedicto Sánchez de Herrera or Benito Sánchez de Herrera was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pozzuoli , and Bishop of Monopoli . Biography Benedicto Sánchez de Herrera was born in Navas de Jorquera, Spain in 1598. On 17 October 1653, he was selected by the King as Bishop of Monopoli and confirmed by Pope Innocent X on 12 January 1654. On 18 January 1654, he was consecrated bishop by Giovanni Battista Maria Pallotta, Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli, with Patrizio Donati, Bishop Emeritus of Minori, and Giuseppe Ciantes, Bishop of Marsico Nuovo, serving as co-consecrators.
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Clement of Llanthony
1100 - 1170 (70 years)
Clement of Llanthony was an Anglo-Norman clergyman and theologian who became prior of Llanthony Priory. Clement became a canon at Llanthony at a young age, and was educated there. Having held the office of sub-prior, he became prior around 1150, and died sometime after 1167, although the year is not known.
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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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Otto Ritschl
1860 - 1944 (84 years)
Otto Karl Albrecht Ritschl was a German theologian, the son of Albrecht Ritschl. After studying at Göttingen, Bonn and Giessen, he became professor at Kiel in 1889 and afterwards at Bonn . He published, among other works, Schleiermachers Stellung zum Christentum in seinen Reden über die Religion , and a Life of his father .
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Arthur Nock
1902 - 1963 (61 years)
Arthur Darby Nock was an English classicist and theologian, regarded as a leading scholar in the history of religion. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1930 until his death. Early life Nock was born in Portsmouth, England in 1902 to Cornelius and Alice Mary Ann Nock. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School.
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Shirley Jackson Case
1872 - 1947 (75 years)
Shirley Jackson Case was an historian of early Christianity, and a liberal theologian. He served as dean of the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. Biography Case was born on September 28, 1872, in Hatfield Point, New Brunswick. He received a BA and MA in mathematics from Acadia University. He taught mathematics at the New Hampton Library Institute. In 1904, he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1908. He was professor of New Testament literature and interpretation at University of Chicago Divinity School until 1925.
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Bernard Lonergan
1904 - 1984 (80 years)
Bernard Joseph Francis Lonergan was a Canadian Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian, regarded by many as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. Lonergan's works include Insight: A Study of Human Understanding and Method in Theology , as well as two studies of Thomas Aquinas, several theological textbooks, and numerous essays, including two posthumously published essays on macroeconomics. The projected 25-volume Collected Works with the University of Toronto Press is now complete. Lonergan held appointments at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome; Regis College, T...
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Geoffrey Hugo Lampe
1912 - 1980 (68 years)
Geoffrey William Hugo Lampe was a British theologian and Anglican priest who dedicated his life to theological teaching and research. He was Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham from 1953 to 1960. He then moved to the University of Cambridge where he was Ely Professor of Divinity from 1960 to 1970 and Regius Professor of Divinity from 1970 until his retirement in 1979. He was also a member of the General Synod of the Church of England.
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Carl Hermann Kraeling
1897 - 1966 (69 years)
Carl Hermann Kraeling , an American theologian, historian, and archaeologist; born in Brooklyn on March 10, 1897, and died in New Haven on November 14, 1966; he is known for his publications on the synagogue and the Christian chapel of Dura-Europos.
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Oswald Thompson Allis
1880 - 1973 (93 years)
Oswald Thompson Allis was an American Presbyterian theologian and Bible scholar. Biography He was born in 1880 and studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton Theological Seminary. He received a master's degree from Princeton University and a doctorate from the University of Berlin. Later, Allis received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Hampden Sydney College in 1927.
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Herbert Henry Gowen
1864 - 1960 (96 years)
Herbert Henry Gowen was an Anglican missionary and orientalist who wrote on the history of China and Japan and was long associated with the University of Washington. Early life and education Herbert Gowen was born in Yarmouth, England and earned a B.A. degree from St. Augustine's College in 1886. He was ordained a deacon in the Church of England the same year.
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Steven Schwarzschild
1924 - 1989 (65 years)
Steven S. Schwarzschild was a rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and editor. Biography Schwarzschild was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and grew up in Berlin. He escaped to the United States with his family in 1939.
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L. Harold DeWolf
1905 - 1986 (81 years)
Lotan Harold DeWolf , usually cited as L. Harold Dewolf, was an American Methodist minister and professor of systematic theology at Boston University where he was Martin Luther King Jr.'s "primary teacher and mentor".
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Joachim Begrich
1900 - 1945 (45 years)
Joachim Begrich was a German biblical scholar and theologian born in Predel, a hamlet now belonging to Elsteraue in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was the son of a pastor and the son-in-law of Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel .
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Herbert Brook Workman
1862 - 1951 (89 years)
Herbert Brook Workman was a leading Methodist and secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Secondary Schools Trust when they took over Elmfield College in 1928. Workman was born in London and educated at Kingswood School and Owens College, Manchester. He entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1885 and served as a circuit minister in England and Scotland until 1903 when he was appointed principal of Westminster College. In 1930 he was elected president of the Wesleyan Conference.
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N. P. Williams
1883 - 1943 (60 years)
Norman Powell Williams , known as N. P. Williams, was an Anglican theologian and priest. Educated at Durham School and at Christ Church, Oxford, he enjoyed a succession of appointments at that university: Fellow of Magdalen , Chaplain of Exeter , Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church . In 1924 he was Bampton lecturer.
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Irving Francis Wood
1861 - 1934 (73 years)
Irving Francis Wood was an American biblical scholar. Professor Wood was born at Walton, New York. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1885 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and taught at Jaffna College, Ceylon, until 1889. Wood then studied for his Bachelor of Divinity degree at Yale and completed it in 1892, the same year he met and married his wife, Katherine Hastings. Katherine bore him two children, Constance and Edna, who both went to get collegiate degrees. He taught for a short time at the University of Chicago before taking a job as a professor of Biblical literature and comparative religion at Smith College in 1893.
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Johan Herman Bavinck
1895 - 1964 (69 years)
Johan Herman Bavinck was a Dutch pastor, missionary and theologian. Family Bavinck was born in Rotterdam as the second son of Reverend Coenraad Bernardus Bavinck. He attended the Marnix Gymnasium there. Both his father and his grandfather Jan Bavinck were pastors. His uncle was Herman Bavinck, pastor and Professor of Dogmatics at the theological school in Kampen and at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In 1922 Bavinck married Tine Robers. Their children were Koert, Ben and Ineke.
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Albert C. Knudson
1873 - 1953 (80 years)
Albert Cornelius Knudson was a Christian theologian in the Methodist tradition, associated with Boston University and the school of liberal theology known as Boston personalism. Biography Albert Cornelius Knudson was born on January 23, 1873, in Grand Meadow, Minnesota. He was the son of Asle Knudson and Synnove Knudsen , both of whom were immigrants from Norway. The family subsequently moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota. Asle Knudson regularly traveled by train to Grand Meadow to minister at the Danish-Norwegian Methodist Church until shortly before his death in 1939.
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Donald Macpherson Baillie
1887 - 1954 (67 years)
Donald Macpherson Baillie was a Scottish theologian, ecumenist, and parish minister. Life Raised in the Calvinist tradition, Baillie studied at University of Edinburgh and then at the University of Marburg, where he was influenced by the theologian Wilhelm Herrmann. After some time as a Church of Scotland parish minister, he wrote Faith in God and its Christian Consummation . This led to his appointment as a professor of divinity at St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, where he spent the remainder of his life.
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Martin Dibelius
1883 - 1947 (64 years)
Martin Franz Dibelius was a German Protestant theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg. Dibelius was born in Dresden, Germany, on September 14, 1883. Along with Rudolf Bultmann he helped define a period in research about the historical Jesus characterized by skepticism toward the possibility of describing Jesus with historical certainty. In this capacity he is often regarded as an early pioneer of New Testament form criticism, a highly analytical review of literary forms within the New Testament. After studying at multiple universities, he eventually ended up as a teacher of New Testament exegesis and criticism at Heidelberg University.
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Jakob Jocz
1906 - 1983 (77 years)
Jakób Jocz was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and studied in Germany, England, and Scotland. He received his Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Letters degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He contributed to many professional journals and wrote four other books of Old Testament study and systematic theology. Jocz was ordained in the Anglican Church, and served for many years as Professor of Systematic Theology at Wycliffe Seminary, Toronto.
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James I. McCord
1919 - 1990 (71 years)
James I. McCord was a president of Princeton Theological Seminary. He also won the 1986 Templeton Prize. 150 Years of Princeton Theological Seminary In 1962, as President of Princeton Theological Seminary, McCord hosted the Princeton Theological's 150-year anniversary festivities.
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Lynn H. Hough
1877 - 1971 (94 years)
Lynn Harold Hough was an American Methodist clergyman, theologian, and academic administrator. He served as the 9th president of Northwestern University from 1919 to 1920. Early life and education Lynn H. Hough was born on September 10, 1877, in Cadiz, Ohio. He earned a bachelor's degree from Scio College in 1898 and Drew University in 1905, followed by a doctorate from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1918.
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Edith Stein
1891 - 1942 (51 years)
Edith Stein, OCD was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Discalced Carmelite nun. She is canonized as a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church; she is also one of six patron saints of Europe.
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Albrecht Alt
1883 - 1956 (73 years)
Albrecht Alt , was a leading German Protestant theologian. Eldest son of a Lutheran minister, he completed high school in Ansbach and studied theology at Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen and the University of Leipzig. From 1907 to 1908 he was a candidate for the office of lecturer at Munich Predigerseminar . In 1908 he was a scholarship holder of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology of the Holy Land in Jerusalem and undertook his first Palestine journey. In the same year he became a supervisor of the theological College in Greifswald. In 1909 he wrote Israel und Aegypten a...
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F. W. Grosheide
1881 - 1972 (91 years)
Frederik Willem Grosheide was a Dutch New Testament scholar. He served as Professor of New Testament at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He served as rector magnificus of that institution three times.
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Giovanni Mercati
1866 - 1957 (91 years)
Giovanni Mercati was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and librarian of the Vatican Library from 1936 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1936.
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Ned Stonehouse
1902 - 1962 (60 years)
Ned Bernard Stonehouse was a renowned New Testament scholar. He joined J. Gresham Machen in the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, where he worked for over thirty years. Stonehouse served as one of the 34 constituting members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. He received the A.B. from Calvin College , the Th.B. and Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary , and the Ph.D. from the Free University of Amsterdam .
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Regin Prenter
1907 - 1990 (83 years)
Regin Prenter was a Danish Lutheran priest and theologian. Prenter studied theology at Copenhagen, where he belonged to the founding circle of Theologisk Oratorium and became friend of Fr Gabriel Hebert, SSM. He had candidate's degree in theology in 1931 and became priest in Hvilsager-Lime and the Aarhus Cathedral. 1935-36 he spent a year at Lincoln Theological College where he came under influence of Michael Ramsay. Later he took part in many Anglican-Lutheran conferences. During W.W.II Prenter was active in the resistance movement against the Nazis and had doctors degree in theology in 1944 about Martin Luther's theology.
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Geerhardus Vos
1862 - 1949 (87 years)
Geerhardus Johannes Vos was a Dutch-American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical theology.
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Henry Sloane Coffin
1877 - 1954 (77 years)
Henry Sloane Coffin was president of the Union Theological Seminary, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and one of the most famous ministers in the United States. He was also one of the translators of the popular hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", along with John Mason Neale.
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Hermann Sasse
1895 - 1976 (81 years)
Hermann Otto Erich Sasse was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and author. He was considered one of the foremost confessional Lutheran theologians of the 20th century. Sasses was born on 17 July 1895 in Sonnewalde, Lower Lusatia, Germany, to Hermann Sasse, a pharmacist, and his wife Maria, née Berger. In 1913, he began reading theology and ancient philology at the University of Berlin. He was a German infantryman in World War I, in which he was one of only six men in his battalion to survive the trench warfare in Flanders.
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Jacob B. Agus
1911 - 1986 (75 years)
Jacob B. Agus was a Polish-born American liberal Conservative rabbi and theologian who played a key role in the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. Life Jacob Agus was a leading thinker of the Conservative movement's liberal wing, heading Rabbinical Assembly committees on the sabbath, prayerbook, and ideology of the Conservative movement. He was also a rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, Maryland, and a promoter of interfaith communication, which he referred to as "dialogue" or "trialogue."
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Wilbur M. Smith
1894 - 1976 (82 years)
Wilbur Moorehead Smith was an American theologian and one of the founding members of Fuller Theological Seminary. Early life Smith was born in Chicago on June 8, 1894. His father, Thomas Smith, was a successful fruit trader. His mother, Sadie Sanborn Smith, read a lot and had a large library: her father was a follower of the evangelist R. A. Torrey. She taught her son to read when he was five. He developed a love of books that remained with him, and he owned more than 25,000 books.
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Hans Rookmaaker
1922 - 1977 (55 years)
Henderik Roelof "Hans" Rookmaaker was a Dutch Christian scholar, professor, and author who wrote and lectured on art theory, art history, music, philosophy, and religion. In 1948 he met Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer and became a member of L'Abri in Switzerland. Rookmaaker and his wife Anky opened a Dutch branch of L'Abri in 1971.
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Ferdinand Cavallera
1875 - 1954 (79 years)
Ferdinand Cavallera was born in Puy-en-Velay, France, of parents of Piedmontese origin. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1892 and became a biblical scholar, textual critic, and publisher on patristics.
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Leonard Feeney
1897 - 1978 (81 years)
Leonard Edward Feeney was an American Jesuit Catholic priest, poet, lyricist, and essayist. He articulated an interpretation of the Roman Catholic doctrine extra Ecclesiam nulla salus . He took the position that baptism of blood and baptism of desire are unavailing and that therefore no non-Catholics will be saved. Those positions are called, after him, Feeneyism.
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