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).
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List of the most influential people in Theology,
#401
Wesley Wildman
#22523
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Wesley J. Wildman is a contemporary Australian-American philosopher, theologian, and ethicist. Currently, he is a full professor at the Boston University School of Theology, founding member of the faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, and convener of the Religion and Science doctoral program in Boston University's Graduate School. He is executive director of The Center for Mind and Culture, founding co-director of the Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion, and founding co-editor of the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior . Wildman's academic work has focused on interpreting religio...
Go to Profile#402
Michael L. Brown
#26743
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Michael L. Brown is an American radio host, author, apologist, activist, and proponent of Messianic Judaism, Christian Zionism, and the Charismatic Movement. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Line of Fire, airs throughout the United States. He contributes articles to the Christian news platform The Stream as well as to the news site Townhall, and serves as head of the Coalition of Conscience, a Christian organization in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. He holds a Ph.D in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from New York University.
Go to Profile#403
Eric Lionel Mascall
#41891
Overall Influence
1905 - 1993 (88 years)
Eric Lionel Mascall was a leading theologian and priest in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England. He was a philosophical exponent of the Thomist tradition and was Professor of Historical Theology at King's College London . His name was styled as E. L. Mascall in most of his writings.
Go to Profile#404
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
#6961
Overall Influence
1932 - 2017 (85 years)
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was a British cardinal, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. He submitted his resignation as archbishop on reaching his 75th birthday in 2007; Pope Benedict XVI accepted it on 3 April 2009.
Go to Profile#405
John Barton
#31422
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
John Barton is a British Anglican priest and biblical scholar. From 1991 to 2014, he was the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Oriel College. In addition to his academic career, he has been an ordained and serving priest in the Church of England since 1973.
Go to Profile#406
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow
#8782
Overall Influence
1929 - 2008 (79 years)
Patriarch Alexy II was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Elected Patriarch of Moscow in 1990, eighteen months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he became the first Russian Patriarch of the post-Soviet period.
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Prathia Hall
#19068
Overall Influence
1940 - 2002 (62 years)
Prathia Laura Ann Hall Wynn was an American leader and activist in the Civil Rights Movement, a womanist theologian, and ethicist. She was the key inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Go to Profile#408
Ulrich Duchrow
#44178
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Ulrich Duchrow is a professor of systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg specialising in ecumenical theology and theology-economy issues. He was the co-founder and co-moderator of Kairos Europa, a "European decentralised network of justice, peace and creation initiatives working in collaboration with churches, social movements, trade unions and non-governmental organisations, both in and outside Europe, for a more just and tolerant society."
Go to Profile#409
Amos Yong
#29795
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (59 years)
Amos Yong is a Malaysian-American Pentecostal theologian and Professor of Theology and Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been Dean of School of Theology and School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary, since July 1, 2019.
Go to Profile#410
Richard A. Jensen
#32598
Overall Influence
1934 - 2014 (80 years)
Richard Alvin Jensen was an American theologian who served as the Carlson Professor of Homiletics Emeritus at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Early life and education Jensen was born on July 4, 1934, in Fremont, Nebraska, where he attended Fremont Senior High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in philosophy from Dana College in 1956. Jensen attended college with future US Senator from Illinois Paul Simon and was lifelong friends with Simon. Jensen later earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary in 1959 and his Master of Sacred Theology degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1962.
Go to Profile#411
Robert Letham
#49414
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Robert Letham is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at the Union School of Theology . He is also Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Letham's academic education started with a B.A. in Politics awarded by University of Exeter in 1969. He then gained a P.G.C.E. in 1971 from the University of Nottingham. He moved to Westminster Theological Seminary earning a M.A.R. and Th.M. in 1975 and 1976 respectively. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 1980.
Go to Profile#412
Andrew Sandlin
#22228
Overall Influence
P. Andrew Sandlin is a Christian minister, cultural theologian, and author; the founder and president of the Center for Cultural Leadership in Coulterville, California; De Yong Distinguished Visiting Professor of Culture and Theology at Edinburg Theological Seminary in Pharr, Texas; and core faculty at Evan Runner International Academy for Cultural Leadership of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity in Grimsby, Ontario. He was formerly president of the National Reform Association and executive vice president of the Chalcedon Foundation.
Go to Profile#413
Nicholas Lash
#21338
Overall Influence
1934 - 2020 (86 years)
Nicholas Langrishe Alleyne Lash was an English Roman Catholic theologian. Having served in the British Army, he trained for Holy Orders at St Mary's College, Oscott, and worked as a Catholic priest until 1975. He left the priesthood and turned to full-time academia, working as a lecturer and then Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.
Go to Profile#414
Nigel Biggar
#19626
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Nigel John Biggar is a British Anglican priest, theologian, and ethicist. From 2007 to 2022, he was the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford. Early life Biggar was born on 14 March 1955 in Castle Douglas, Scotland. He was educated at Monkton Combe School, a private school near Bath, Somerset. He studied modern history at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. As per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts degree in 1988. He attended the University of Chicago, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in re...
Go to Profile#415
Gerhard Lohfink
#59684
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Gerhard Lohfink is a German Catholic priest and theologian. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and was professor of New Testament at the University of Tübingen until 1986. Lohfink works as a theologian in the Catholic Integrated Community . He is the younger brother of Norbert Lohfink, professor of Old Testament.
Go to Profile#416
Edwin Frederick O'Brien
#31933
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (86 years)
Edwin Frederick O'Brien is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been a cardinal since 2012 and headed the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from 2011 to 2019. O'Brien served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore from 2007 to 2011 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, from 1997 to 2007. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York from 1996 to 1997.
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George R. Knight
#24301
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
George Raymond Knight is a leading Seventh-day Adventist historian, author, and educator. He is emeritus professor of church history at Andrews University. As of 2014 he is considered to be the best-selling and influential voice for the past three decades within the denomination.
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Marc Vervenne
#47320
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Marc Vervenne is a Belgian theologian. From August 2005 till July 2009 he was the rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2005, he won the elections for new rector in the third round on Tuesday 24 May 2005 by beating Rik Torfs with 50.81% to 49.19%. Before becoming rector, he was vice-rector of the Human sciences group. On 3 December 2008 the university announced that he would not serve a second term. On 1 August 2009 Mark Waer became the new rector.
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Antonius Lambertus Maria Hurkmans
#58879
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Antonius Lambertus Maria Hurkmans is Bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch. His motto is: Sancti Spiritus In virtute . Early years and calling to the priesthood Antoon Hurkmans was born in Somernen and grew up in a farming family of nine children. He took his vegetable and grocery diploma and had really his own grocery store in Echt, Netherlands. Because he felt called to the priesthood, he sold his shop and then studied at the College for Late Vocations in Warnsveld. In 1966 he went to the Latin School in Gemert and three years later he spent some time in the Grimbergen Abbey, Belgium.
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Jason BeDuhn
#19227
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (61 years)
Jason David BeDuhn is a historian of religion and culture, currently Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University. Education BeDuhn holds a B.A. in Religious studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, an M.T.S. in New Testament and Christian Origins from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in the Comparative Study of Religions from Indiana University Bloomington.
Go to Profile#421
Christopher Evans
#29303
Overall Influence
1909 - 2012 (103 years)
Christopher Francis Evans was an English Anglican priest and theologian who became known as an authority on the New Testament. He also served as lecturer in theology at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford from 1948 to 1958 and was later made an Emeritus Fellow.
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Robert E. Van Voorst
#18103
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Robert E. Van Voorst is an American theologian and educator. He retired in 2018 as a Professor of New Testament Studies at Western Theological Seminary, in Holland, Michigan, and has published scholarly works in early Christian writings and New Testament Greek. He received his B.A. in Religion from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, his M.Div. from Western Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has served at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, and was a visiting professor at Westminster College, Oxford, England. He has lec...
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Blase J. Cupich
#13052
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Blase Joseph Cupich is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, a cardinal who serves as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Cupich was ordained a priest there in 1975. He was named Bishop of Rapid City in South Dakota, by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Cupich was then named bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. After being chosen by Pope Francis to succeed Cardinal Francis George as Archbishop of Chicago, Cupich was installed there in 2014. He was subsequently also appointed to the Roman Curia's Congregation for Bishops, which plays a role in advising the pope on episcopal matters, including appointments.
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Robert E. Webber
#43983
Overall Influence
1933 - 2007 (74 years)
Robert Eugene Webber was an American theologian known for his work on worship and the early church. He played a key role in the Convergence Movement, a movement among evangelical and charismatic churches in the United States to blend charismatic worship with liturgies from the Book of Common Prayer and other liturgical sources.
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Antonio Cañizares Llovera
#19675
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
Antonio Cañizares Llovera is a Spanish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Valencia from 2014 to 2022. He was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2008 to 2014, and archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain from 2002 to 2008. He was made a cardinal in 2006.
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Robert W. Funk
#17772
Overall Influence
1926 - 2005 (79 years)
Robert W. Funk was an American biblical scholar, founder of the Jesus Seminar and the nonprofit Westar Institute in Santa Rosa, California. Funk sought to promote research and education on what he called biblical literacy. His approach to hermeneutics was historical-critical, with a strongly skeptical view of orthodox Christian belief, particularly concerning the historical Jesus. He and his associates described Jesus' parables as containing shocking messages that contradicted established religious attitudes.
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John Hardon
#22158
Overall Influence
1914 - 2000 (86 years)
John Anthony Hardon, SJ was an American Jesuit priest, writer, teacher and theologian. A candidate for sainthood since 2005, he is recognized by the Catholic Church as a Servant of God. Early life John Anthony Hardon was born in 1914 to a devout Catholic family in Midland, Pennsylvania. When he was a year old, his 27-year-old father died in an industrial accident. After the accident Hardon was raised by his 26-year-old mother Anna Hardon, who never remarried "out of concern for the influence a possible stepfather might have on her son's vocation." They moved to Cleveland, Ohio.
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Józef Życiński
#38276
Overall Influence
1948 - 2011 (63 years)
Józef Mirosław Życiński was a Polish philosopher, publicist, the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lublin and a Professor of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Rome, Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow and Catholic University of Lublin.
Go to Profile#429
David Brown
#26932
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
David William Brown is an Anglican priest and British scholar of philosophy, theology, religion, and the arts. He taught at the universities of Oxford, Durham, and St. Andrews before retiring in 2015. He is well-known for his "non-punitive theory of purgatory, his defense of specific versions of social Trinitarianism and kenotic Christology, his distinctive theory of divine revelation as mediated fallibly through both tradition and imagination, and his proposals regarding a pervasive sacramentality discerned in nature and human culture alike."
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Willie James Jennings
#40329
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Willie James Jennings is an American theologian, known for his contributions on liberation theologies, cultural identities, and theological anthropology. He is currently an associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale University.
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Vincenzo Fagiolo
#26749
Overall Influence
1918 - 2000 (82 years)
Vincenzo Fagiolo was an Italian cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts from 1990 until 1994. Biography Fagiolo was educated at the Seminary of Segni, the Seminary of Anagni and at the Pontifical Lateran University, earning doctorates in theology and canon law. He was ordained on 6 March 1943, and worked in the Diocese of Rome from 1943 to 1971.
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Robert Goss
#36606
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Robert E. Shore-Goss is a theologian and author. Goss was brought up in a devout Roman Catholic family and felt called to the priesthood, being ordained as a Jesuit in 1976. He left the Jesuits in 1978 going on to receive a Th.D. in Comparative Religion from Harvard University.
Go to Profile#433
Igor Sibaldi
#25681
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Igor Sibaldi , born from Russian mother and Italian father, is an Italian writer, scholar of theology and history of religion. Biography Igor Sibaldi is the author of numerous works on the Scripture and shamanism. He regularly holds conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad about mythology, exegesis and depth psychology. He worked for a long time on angelology in Jewish tradition, equalizing it to an ancient form of psychology.
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Marva Dawn
#39789
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Marva J. Dawn was an American Christian theologian, author, musician, preacher, and educator. She was associated with the parachurch organization Christians Equipped for Ministry in Vancouver, Washington where she taught Christians around the globe. She also served as a Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dawn was generally perceived as a Lutheran evangelical. She often wrote in a paleo-orthodox style, stressing the importance of Christian tradition and the wisdom of the Church through the centuries.
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Emilie Townes
#14668
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Emilie Maureen Townes is an American Christian social ethicist and theologian. She is currently Dean and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Townes was the first African-American woman to be elected president of the American Academy of Religion in 2008 and served as president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012–2016.
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Scott B. Rae
#26305
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
Scott Bothic Rae is an American Old Testament scholar, theologian, and professor of Christian ethics. He serves as dean of the faculty and chair of the department of philosophy at Biola University's Talbot School of Theology. In 2014, Rae was elected to serve a term as president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is a senior fellow for The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity.
Go to Profile#437
Joseph M. McShane
#25838
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Joseph Michael McShane is an American Jesuit priest, who served as President of Fordham University from 2003 until his retirement in 2022. Before becoming President of Fordham University, McShane was the President of the University of Scranton and Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. In addition to his role as President of Fordham, McShane was appointed to the Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing by New York Governor David A. Paterson in 2008. On July 1, 2009, McShane threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium to commemorate the 150th anniversary of baseball at Fordham.
Go to Profile#438
Samuele Bacchiocchi
#30930
Overall Influence
1938 - 2008 (70 years)
Samuele R. Bacchiocchi was a Seventh-day Adventist author and theologian, best known for his work on the Sabbath in Christianity, particularly in the historical work From Sabbath to Sunday, based on his doctoral thesis from the Pontifical Gregorian University. Bacchiocchi defended the validity of the Feasts of the Lord, situated in Leviticus 23, he wrote two books on the subject. He was also known within the Seventh-day Adventist church for his opposition to rock and contemporary Christian music, jewelry, the celebration of Christmas and Easter, certain dress standards and alcohol.
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Virgilio Elizondo
#37227
Overall Influence
1935 - 2016 (81 years)
Virgilio P. Elizondo was a Mexican-American Catholic priest and community activist, who was also a leading scholar of liberation theology and Hispanic theology. He was widely regarded as "the father of U.S. Latino religious thought."
Go to Profile#440
George Hunsinger
#43997
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
George Hunsinger is an American theologian who is Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He served as director of the Seminary's Center for Karl Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001.
Go to Profile#441
Timothy Gorringe
#27980
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Timothy Jervis Gorringe is an English Anglican priest and theologian who is St Luke's Professor of Theological Studies at the University of Exeter, Devon, England. Life Born in 1946, Timothy Gorringe was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford , and Sarum Theological College . He was ordained deacon in 1972 and priest in 1973 and served as Assistant Curate at Chapel Allerton and Oxford St Mary the Virgin with St Cross and St Peter . From 1979 until 1986, he taught theology at Tamilnadu Theological Seminary. He was Official Fellow, Chaplain, and Tutor in Theology at St John's College, Oxford, 1986...
Go to Profile#442
Peter Jensen
#17240
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
Peter Frederick Jensen is a retired Australian Anglican bishop, theologian and academic. From 1985 to 2001, he was principal of Moore Theological College. From 2001 to 2013, he was the Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of the Province of New South Wales in the Anglican Church of Australia. He retired on his 70th birthday, 11 July 2013. In late 2007, Jensen was one of the founding members of the Global Anglican Future Conference , which he served as General Secretary. He stepped down in early 2019 and was succeeded by Benjamin Kwashi, former archbishop of Jos in Nigeria.
Go to Profile#443
Wojciech Polak
#29710
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
Wojciech Polak is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Gniezno, Poland, since his appointment on 17 May 2014. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of Gniezno. Biography Early life Polak was born in 1964 in Inowrocław, within the territory of the archdiocese. After passing his exams in 1983, he was admitted to the Major Seminary of Gniezno and on 13 May 1989 he was ordained to the priesthood. In the years 1989–1991 was an assistant priest at St. Martin and Nicholas' Church in Bydgoszcz.
Go to Profile#444
Bram van de Beek
#48192
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Abraham "Bram" van de Beek is a Dutch Reformed theologian. He was a professor of biblical and systematic theology at Leiden University between 1981 and 2000. Subsequently he was professor of Christian symbolism at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam until 2010.
Go to Profile#445
Arvind P. Nirmal
#45282
Overall Influence
1936 - 1995 (59 years)
Arvind P. Nirmal, was a Dalit Christian theologian and a minister of the Church of North India. He questioned the Christian conversion of the upper castes, especially the Brahmin. A major proponent of Dalit theology, Nirmal argued that Jesus himself was a Dalit and that Christian theology should therefore reflect Dalit concerns.
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Deok-Kyo Oh
#54897
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Deok-Kyo Oh is a South Korean theologian who served as the president of Hapdong Theological Seminary in South Korea and the president of the International University of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia., and is a member of South Korea's National Unification Advisory Council since 2014.
Go to Profile#447
Richard McBrien
#31674
Overall Influence
1936 - 2015 (79 years)
Richard Peter McBrien was a Catholic priest, theologian, and writer, who was the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, U.S. He authored twenty-five books, including the very popular Catholicism, a reference text on the Church after the Second Vatican Council.
Go to Profile#448
Christoph Schwöbel
#44766
Overall Influence
1955 - 2021 (66 years)
Christoph Schwöbel was a German Lutheran Theologian and Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Life Christoph Schwöbel was born in Frankfurt am Main. He studied Lutheran Theology and Philosophy at the Kirchliche Hochschule, Bethel, and at Philipps-Universität Marburg, received his doctorate in 1978 in Marburg and qualified there as a professor, through his Habilitation, in 1990. He was ordained a minister of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1994.
Go to Profile#449
Klaus Koch
#20681
Overall Influence
1926 - 2019 (93 years)
Klaus Koch was an Old Testament scholar. Koch first studied in the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and later at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. He did his doctoral dissertation at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg under Gerhard von Rad.
Go to Profile#450
Beyers Naudé
#13041
Overall Influence
1915 - 2004 (89 years)
Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé was a South African Afrikaner Calvinist Dominee, theologian and the leading Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist. He was known simply as Beyers Naudé, or more colloquially, Oom Bey .
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