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,
#3951
Johannes Nider
1380 - 1438 (58 years)
Johannes Nider was a German theologian. Life Nider was born in Swabia. He entered the Order of Preachers at Colmar and after profession was sent to Vienna for his philosophical studies, which he finished at Cologne, where he was ordained. He gained a wide reputation in Germany as a preacher and was active at the Council of Constance. After making a study of the convents of his order of strict observance in Italy he returned to the University of Vienna, where in 1425 he began teaching as Master of Theology.
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Antonio Possevino
1533 - 1611 (78 years)
Antonio Possevino was a Jesuit protagonist of Counter Reformation as a papal diplomat and a Jesuit controversialist, encyclopedist and bibliographer. He was the first Jesuit to visit Muscovy, Sweden, Denmark, Livonia, Hungary, Pomerania, and Saxony in amply documented papal missions between 1578 and 1586 where he championed the enterprising policies of Pope Gregory XIII.
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Johann Smidt
1773 - 1857 (84 years)
Johann Smidt was an important Bremen politician, theologian, and founder of Bremerhaven. Biography Smidt was a son of the Reformed preacher Johann Smidt sen., pastor at St. Stephen Church in Bremen. Smidt jun. studied theology in Jena, and was one of the founders of the Gesellschaft der freien Männer . He was ordained Reformed preacher in Zürich in 1797. He then became Professor of History at the Gymnasium illustre in his hometown. He then became 'Syndikus' for the Älterleute and in 1800 'Ratsherr' , a position in which he exerted considerable influence on the governmental and commercial d...
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Albert Knoll
1796 - 1863 (67 years)
Albert Knoll was an Austrian Capuchin dogmatic theologian. Life He was ordained to the priesthood in November, 1818, and five years later was appointed to teach dogmatic theology in the Capuchin convent at Merano. He held this position for 25 years. Having been elected to the office of definitor general in 1847, he went to Rome, but returned to Bolzano, in 1853, when his term of office had expired.
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John Brown
1830 - 1922 (92 years)
John Brown was a British theologian, historian, and pastor. Brown obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Doctor of Divinity and served as pastor of Bunyan Meeting in the town of Bedford, Bedfordshire in the Eastern part of England. He was the author of several oft referenced works on church history and theology, including an important biography of John Bunyan, subtitled His Life, Times and Work.
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Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i
888 - 933 (45 years)
Abū Hāshīm al-Jubbā'ī was a mu'tazili theologian. He was born in 888 in Basra, and died in 933 in Baghdad. He was the son of Abū 'Alī Muḥammad al-Jubbā'ī. Biography His main teacher in theology was his own father. After the latter's death in 915, he became the leader of the Mutazilite school of Basra. Around 926, he had to leave for Baghdad because of his poverty.
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William of Ware
1260 - 1305 (45 years)
William of Ware was a Franciscan friar and theologian, born at Ware in Hertfordshire. He almost certainly studied at Oxford University and lectured on the Sentences of Peter Lombard there, but he is not listed among the Oxford masters. There is some evidence, but no certainty, that he also taught at the University of Paris, perhaps lecturing there too on the Sentences. He was known as the Doctor Fundatus and less commonly the Doctor Praeclarus .
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August Kayser
1821 - 1885 (64 years)
August Kayser was a Protestant theologian. For some years, Kayser was an assistant librarian at the University of Strasbourg. He was a private tutor from 1843 to 1855, and accepted a call to be a preacher to Stossweiler in 1858. In 1868 Kayser went to Neuhof, Alsace. He was appointed professor of theology in Strasbourg in 1873.
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Henry Dodwell
1641 - 1711 (70 years)
Henry Dodwell was an Anglo-Irish scholar, theologian and controversial writer. Life Dodwell was born in Dublin in 1641. His father, William Dodwell, who lost his property in Connacht during the Irish rebellion, was married to Elizabeth Slingsby, daughter of Sir Francis Slingsby and settled at York in 1648. Henry received his preliminary education at St Peter's School, York.
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Judah Loew ben Bezalel
1512 - 1609 (97 years)
Judah Loew ben Bezalel , also known as Rabbi Loew , the Maharal of Prague , or simply the Maharal , was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who, for most of his life, served as a leading rabbi in the cities of Mikulov in Moravia and Prague in Bohemia.
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James Relly
1722 - 1778 (56 years)
James Relly was a Welshman, Methodist minister and mentor of John Murray who spread Universalism in the United States. Biography Relly was born at Jeffreyston, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He attended the Pembroke Grammar School, came under the influence of George Whitefield, probably in the latter's first tour of Wales in 1741, and became one of his preachers. His first station was at Rhyddlangwraig near Narberth; and in 1747 he made a report of a missionary tour to Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire, and Birmingham. He broke, however, with Whitefield on doctrinal grounds - his views on the certainty o...
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Johann Marbach
1521 - 1581 (60 years)
Johann Marbach was a German Lutheran reformer and controversialist. Life He was born at Lindau in Bavaria. He began his studies at Strasbourg in 1536, and three years later went to Wittenberg, where he shared a house with Martin Luther and took his doctor's degree in 1543. After holding temporary positions at Jena and Isny, in 1545 he accepted a call to Strasbourg. Here, from 1545 to 1558, he was pastor of the Church of St. Nicholas; canon at St. Thomas' from 1546; professor from 1549, and from 1551 president of the Church Convocation.
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Samuel Worcester
1770 - 1821 (51 years)
Samuel Worcester was a United States clergyman noted for his participation in a controversy over Unitarianism. Biography Against his father's wishes, he decided to educate himself for a profession rather than become a farmer. After attending and then teaching in local schools, he went to New Ipswitch Academy, and then entered Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1795. He was licensed to preach in 1796.
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Johannes Browallius
1707 - 1755 (48 years)
Johannes Browallius , also called John Browall, was a Finnish and Swedish Lutheran theologian, physicist, botanist and at one time friend of Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus. Career He was a Professor of Physics from 1737–46, Professor of Theology 1746–49 and was the Bishop of Turku, then a diocese of the Church of Sweden, and Vice-Chancellor of The Royal Academy of Turku from 1749 until his death in 1755.
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Moritz von Aberle
1819 - 1875 (56 years)
Moritz von Aberle was a German Catholic theologian. Life Moritz von Aberle was born on 25 April 1819 at Rottum in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He became a professor in the Obergymnasium at Ehingen in 1845, director of the Wilhelmstift in 1848, and a professor of moral theology and New Testament exegesis in the university at Tübingen in 1850, a position he retained till the day of his death. He died at Tübingen on 3 November 1875.
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Ernst Ranke
1814 - 1888 (74 years)
Ernst Constantin Ranke was a German Protestant theologian; since 1850, a professor of church history. He was the brother of historian Leopold von Ranke , theologian Friedrich Heinrich Ranke and philologist Karl Ferdinand Ranke .
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D. Elton Trueblood
1900 - 1994 (94 years)
David Elton Trueblood , who was usually known as "Elton Trueblood" or "D. Elton Trueblood", was a noted 20th-century American Quaker author and theologian, former chaplain both to Harvard and Stanford universities.
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Stephan Agricola
1491 - 1547 (56 years)
Stephan Agricola was a Lutheran church reformer. Born in Abensberg, at a young age he joined the Augustinian order. As a monk, he studied Augustine deeply. As a student, he went to the universities in Bologna and Venice, where in 1519 he became a Doctor of Theology. He began to preach on whole books of the Bible in 1520. He was led to Lutheranism through his study of Augustine's works on the scriptures. He was accused of Lutheranism as a heresy. Although he claimed his independence of Luther, he was arrested and imprisoned in Mühldorf on November 17, 1522. In 1523 he escaped and came to Augsb...
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Theodor Kliefoth
1810 - 1895 (85 years)
Theodor Friedrich Dethlof Kliefoth was a German Neo-Lutheran. He was born in Körchow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 18 January 1810 and he died in Schwerin on 26 January 1895. Life He was educated at the gymnasium of Schwerin, and at the Universities of Berlin and Rostock. In 1833 he was appointed instructor of Duke William of Mecklenburg, and in 1837 accompanied Grand Duke Frederick Francis as tutor to Dresden. He became pastor at Ludwigslust in 1840, and superintendent of Schwerin in 1844. Since 1835 he had been the leading spirit in the ecclesiastical and theological affairs of his state. With th...
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Ibrahim al-Nazzam
760 - 835 (75 years)
Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Sayyār Ibn Hāni‘ an-Naẓẓām was an Arab Mu'tazilite theologian and poet. He was a nephew of the Mu'tazilite theologian Abu al-Hudhayl al-'Allaf, and al-Jahiz was one of his students. Al-Naẓẓām served at the courts of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun. His theological doctrines and works are lost except for a few fragments.
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Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr.
1790 - 1861 (71 years)
Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. was an American linguist and theologian, who served as professor of sacred literature at Yale University. He is chiefly remembered today for his involvement in the Amistad case and as the father of theoretical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs.
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Kathleen Bliss
1908 - 1989 (81 years)
Kathleen Mary Amelia Bliss was an English theologian, missionary and official of the World Council of Churches . Early life Bliss was born in Fulham. She attended Girton College, Cambridge, graduating in theology and history . While at university, she participated in the Student Volunteer Movement.
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Willem Hessels van Est
1542 - 1613 (71 years)
Willem Hessels van Est, Latinized as Estius , was a Dutch Catholic commentator on the Pauline epistles. Biography He was born at Gorcum, County of Holland. He received his early education at home, after which he went to Utrecht, where he studied classics and thence proceeded to Leuven, where he spent about twenty years in the study of philosophy, theology and Holy Scripture. During the last ten years there he was professor of philosophy in one of the colleges. In 1580 he received the degree of Doctor of Theology.
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Augusta Emma Stetson
1842 - 1928 (86 years)
Augusta Emma Stetson was an American religious leader. Known for her impressive oratory skills and magnetic personality, she attracted a large following in New York City. However, her increasingly radical theories, conflicts with other church members including a well-known rivalry with Laura Lathrop, and attempts to supplant Mary Baker Eddy as the leader of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, led to her eventually being excommunicated from the church on charges of insubordination and of false teaching. Afterwards she began preaching and publishing various works on her theories which she n...
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Karl Johann Greith
1807 - 1882 (75 years)
Karl Johann Greith was a Swiss Catholic bishop and church historian. Life He received his early education at St. Gall, then went to the lyceum at Lucerne and the University of Munich; at the university he studied theology, philosophy, and history, and met Joseph Görres. In 1829 he went to Paris to perfect himself in library work; while there he decided to enter the priesthood and completed his theological studies in the Sulpician seminary of that city. He was ordained priest in 1831, and was made sub-librarian of St. Gall, also sub-regent and professor of the ecclesiastical seminary.
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György Fejér
1766 - 1851 (85 years)
György Fejér was a Hungarian author, Provost – Canon, and Director of the Library, was born at Keszthely, in the county of Zala in Hungary. He studied philosophy at Pest, and theology at Pressburg. In 1808, he obtained a theological professorship at Pest University. In 1818, he became chief director of the educational circle of Győr , and in 1824 was appointed librarian to the University of Pest. Fejér's works, which are nearly all written either in Latin or Hungarian, exceed one hundred and eighty.
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Franz Dibelius
1847 - 1924 (77 years)
Franz Wilhelm Dibelius was a German Protestant theologian. He was the father of theologian Martin Dibelius and an uncle to theologian Otto Dibelius . He studied at the University of Halle, receiving his theology license in 1871. In 1873 he obtained his habilitation for church history, and during the following year, became a pastor at Annenkirche in Dresden. In 1884 he was named pastor at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, then in 1910 was appointed Oberhofprediger and vice-president of the Landeskonsistorium . He was a founder of the Gesellschaft für Sächsische Kirchengeschichte , and in 1893 was named chair at the Dresden Hauptverein of the Gustav-Adolf Vereins.
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John Punch
1603 - 1661 (58 years)
John Punch was an Irish Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian. Punch was ultimately responsible for the now classic formulation of Ockham's Razor, in the shape of the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, "entities are not to be multiplied unnecessarily." His formulation was slightly different: Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate. Punch did not attribute this wording to William of Ockham, but instead referred to the principle as a "common axiom" used by the Scholastics.
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Matthias Martinius
1572 - 1630 (58 years)
Matthias Martinius was a German Calvinist theologian and educator. Life He was born in Freienhagen, Waldeck and educated at Herborn Academy. He became court preacher at Dillenburg, and then taught at Herborn before moving to Emden in 1607.
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Joseph Nirschl
1823 - 1904 (81 years)
Joseph Nirschl was a German Catholic theologian and writer. Life He was ordained in 1851 and graduated as doctor of theology in 1854 at Munich. He was appointed teacher of Christian doctrine at Passau in 1855 and in 1862 professor of church history and patrology. In 1879 he became professor of church history at the University of Würzburg, and was appointed dean of the cathedral in 1892.
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Rudolf Steck
1842 - 1924 (82 years)
Johann Rudolf Julius Steck was a Swiss reformed theologian and writer. Steck was a pastor of the Reformed Church, Dresden . From 1881 to 1921 he was Professor of Theology at the University of Bern. He was influenced by the writings of Bruno Bauer and was a proponent of the Christ myth theory. He believed that the Pauline epistles were a case of second century pseudepigrapha.
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Adolf Paul Johannes Althaus
1861 - 1925 (64 years)
Adolf Paul Johannes Althaus was a German Lutheran theologian, born in Fallersleben . He was a professor at the universities of Göttingen and Leipzig since 1897. He was the father of Paul Althaus . He died in Leipzig.
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Edward Caldwell Moore
1857 - 1943 (86 years)
Edward Caldwell Moore was an American theologian, brother of George Foot Moore and Frank Gardner Moore. Early life and education He was born at West Chester, Pa., the son of the Rev. William Eves Moore and his wife, Harriet. He graduated from Marietta College in 1877 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1884; and studied at Berlin, Göttingen, and Gießen from 1884–1886. He received an honorary PhD from Brown University in 1891.
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Johann Jakob Grynaeus
1540 - 1617 (77 years)
Johann Jakob Grynaeus or Gryner was a Swiss Protestant divine. Life Grynaeus was born in Bern. His father, Thomas Grynaeus , was for a time professor of ancient languages at Basel and Bern, but afterwards became pastor of Röteln in Baden. He was nephew of the eminent Humanist Simon Grynaeus.
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Heinrich Bassermann
1849 - 1909 (60 years)
Heinrich Gustav Bassermann was a German Lutheran theologian born in Frankfurt am Main. From 1868 to 1873 he was a student at the universities of Jena, Zurich and Heidelberg. At Jena he was a pupil of Karl August Hase , and in Heidelberg he studied under Heinrich Julius Holtzmann . During this time period he also served with a dragoon unit in the Franco-Prussian War .
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Christian Daniel Beck
1757 - 1832 (75 years)
Christian Daniel Beck was a German philologist, historian, theologian and antiquarian, one of the most learned men of his time. Biography Beck was born at Leipzig and studied at Leipzig University, where in 1785 he was appointed professor of Greek and Latin literature. This post he resigned in 1819 in order to take up the professorship of history, but resumed it in 1825. In 1819, he also became editor of the Allgemeines Reportorium der neuesten in- und ausländischen Litteratur . He also had the management of the university library, was director of the institute for the deaf and dumb, and fill...
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Johannes Polyander
1568 - 1646 (78 years)
Johannes Polyander van den Kerckhoven was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, a Contra-Remonstrant but considered of moderate views. Life He was born in Metz, France. His father was from Ghent, but had gone into exile in Lorraine where he was a Protestant pastor. The family then moved to Heidelberg. He studied at Heidelberg under Franciscus Junius, graduating M.A. in 1589; and then for a doctorate in Geneva in 1590, under Theodore Beza.
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Jean Langevin
1821 - 1892 (71 years)
Jean-Pierre-François-Laforce Langevin was born and lived his life in Quebec. He was taught by a governess before entering the Petit Séminaire de Quebec. He began his studies for the priesthood at the Grand Séminaire and taught back at his old school, a vocation he continued after he was ordained priest. His teaching and parish experience covered a number of years and were rewarding and successful. His final position in education was principal of the École Normale Laval.
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Johannes Hoornbeek
1617 - 1666 (49 years)
Johannes Hoornbeek , was a Dutch Reformed theologian. He was a student and a follower of Gisbertus Voetius, writing with him on spiritual desertion. Like his teacher Voetieus, he was also later a professor of theology at the University of Leiden and University of Utrecht. The two universities were closely related in the 17th century, and both the teacher and his students participated in the intellectual "Utrech Circle." Another member of the circle was Hornbeek's student colleague Andreas Essenius. The circle was also known as De Voetiaanse Kring , and it was one of the most influential intell...
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Abu Raita al-Takriti
775 - 835 (60 years)
Abu Raita al-Takriti , was a 9th-century Syriac Orthodox theologian and apologist. Biography Little is known about Abu Raita's life, and although some sources portray him as a bishop of Tikrit there is no contemporary evidence to support this. Abu Raita referred to himself as a "teacher" . It appears that his reputation as a theologian made him so well known that he was recalled to defend his fellow non-Chalcedonian co-religionists in Armenia.
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Cecil John Cadoux
1883 - 1947 (64 years)
Cecil John Cadoux was a British Christian theologian and writer. Career He was born in Smyrna , the third son of William H. Cadoux and Emma Temple Cadoux. He was a student at Mansfield College, Oxford, where he was appointed Isherwood Fellow and Lecturer in Hebrew. He moved to the Yorkshire United Independent College at Shipley, in 1919, as professor of New Testament Criticism, Exegesis and Theology and of Christian Sociology. In 1933 he returned to Oxford as Mackennal professor of Church History and vice-principal of Mansfield College.
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Heinrich Bergner
1865 - 1918 (53 years)
Heinrich Bergner was a German art historian and Protestant pastor. Life He studied theology in Jena, Tübingen and Berlin and graduated from Jena in 1890. He was a pastor in Pfarrktzlar from 1891, Nischwitz from 1901 and Heilingen in Saxony-Anhalt from 1914. He was a major contributor and editor for the Historische Kommission für die Provinz Sachsen und Anhalt's series Beschreibenden Darstellung der älteren Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler - as part of it he published Kreis Ziegenrück und Schleusingen , Kreis Grafschaft Wernigerode , Kreis Wanzleben , Kreis Wolmirstedt , Kreis Liebenwerda , Kreis Querf...
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Andrés Pacheco
1550 - 1626 (76 years)
Andrés Pacheco was a Spanish churchman and theologian. Biography Andrés Pacheco was born in La Puebla de Montalbán on April 5, 1550. His father was Alonso Pacheco y Téllez-Girón, Lord of La Puebla de Montalbánm, who was a Knight of the Order of Santiago and commander of Medina de las Torres. His mother was Juana de Cárdenas, daughter of Alonso de Cárdenas, Conde of Puebla del Maestre.
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Jia Yuming
1880 - 1964 (84 years)
Jia Yuming was a Chinese Christian theologian and biblical commentator. He worked at several seminaries and eventually became a vice-chairperson of the Communist Party-aligned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. He self-identified as a fundamentalist and taught that "perfect salvation", which in his definition entailed becoming a "Christ-human", was the ultimate goal of all Christians.
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Onofre Pratdesaba
1733 - 1810 (77 years)
Onofre Pratdesaba was a Catalan jesuit and writer. He taught philosophy in Barcelona and theology in Girona. He was expelled by Charles III of Spain and, like many others, he continued to study arts and sciences in Italy.
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James Roosevelt Bayley
1814 - 1877 (63 years)
James Roosevelt Bayley was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore . Early life and education Bayley's paternal grandfather, Dr. Richard Bayley, was a professor at Columbia College who created New York's quarantine system. Dr. Bayley had three children by his first wife, among whom was Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was canonized in 1975 as the first American-born Roman Catholic saint. After his first wife's death, Dr. Bayley married Charlotte Amelia Barclay, a member of the Roosevelt family, and the couple had seven children, the sixth of whom was Archbishop Bayley's father, Guy Carleton Bayley, born in 1786.
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Valentin Gröne
1817 - 1882 (65 years)
Valentin Gröne was a Catholic theologian. He obtained a Doctor of Theology from the University of Munich in 1848. In 1868, he became the dean of Irmgarteichen, within Netphen. Known works "Tetzel und Luther oder Lebensgeschichte und Rechtfertigung des Ablasspredigers und Inquisitors Dr. Johann Tetzel aus dem Predigerorden "Die Papst-Geschichte" "Sacramentum oder Begriff und Bedeutung von Sacrament in der alten Kirche bis zur Scholastik" [Brilon , 1853]"Glaube und Wissenschaft" "Der Ablass, seine Geschichte und Bedeutung in der Heilsokonomie" "Compendium der Kirchengeschichte"
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Henry Holden
1596 - 1662 (66 years)
Henry Holden was an English Roman Catholic priest, known as a theologian. Life Henry Holden was the second son of Commodore Holden, of Chaigley, Lancashire, and Shelby Eleanor, his wife. He entered the English College at Douai under the name of Johnson, 18 September 1618. There he studied till 15 July 1623, when he proceeded to Paris, took his degree as Doctor of Divinity, and was made a professor at the Sorbonne. He also became penitentiary at Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet and one of the grand vicars of the Archbishop of Paris.
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Marie Dentière
1495 - 1561 (66 years)
Marie Dentière was a Walloon Protestant reformer and theologian, who moved to Geneva. She played an active role in Genevan religion and politics, in the closure of Geneva's convents, and preaching with such reformers as John Calvin and William Farel. In addition to her writings on the Reformation, Dentière's writings seem to be a defense and propagation of the female perspective in the rapidly changing world. Her second husband, Antoine Froment, was also active in the reformation.
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Walter Blankenburg
1903 - 1986 (83 years)
Walter Blankenburg was a German Protestant pastor, director of church music and musicologist, who focused in several publications on liturgy, hymnology, and on the sacred music of the early Baroque period, especially by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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