Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …

See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.

Search Influential People

Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Theology,

#4101

Jean Porthaise

1520 - 1602 (82 years)

Jean Porthaise was a French theologian. He was a member of the Franciscan League, and was known as an anti-Protestant polemicist, who preached and wrote tracts condemning protestantism.

#4102

Martin of Alnwick

Martin Alnwick or of Alnwick was an English Franciscan friar and theologian. Biography Little is known of Alnwick's early years. He certainly originated from Northumberland, and a 'Martinus' is recorded in several disputations at Oxford University at the end of the 13th-century, possibly Alnwick. The first definite record of Alnwick was in 1300, where he was one of the Oxford friars who unsuccessfully requested the licence to hear confessions from the bishop of Lincoln, John Dalderby. At Oxford, Alnwick soon received a Doctor of Theology and, in 1304, became the 32nd regent master of the univ...

#4103

Nathaniel Herrick Griffin

1814 - 1876 (62 years)

Nathaniel Herrick Griffin, D.D. was an American Presbyterian minister. Griffin was born at Southampton, L.I., December 28, 1814. He graduated from Williams College, Mass., in 1834; spent two years in Princeton Theological Seminary; was a tutor in his alma mater in 1836-37; became thereafter stated supply successively at Westhampton, N.Y., and at Franklin; was ordained by the Presbytery June 27, 1839; was pastor at Delhi; acted as assistant professor in Williams College , and: as a teacher in Brooklyn , professor of Latin and Greek in Williams College , of Greek , a teacher in Williamstown, Mass.

#4104

Gerard of Abbeville

1225 - 1272 (47 years)

Gerard of Abbeville was a theologian from the University of Paris. He formally became a theologian in 1257 and from then was known as an opponent of the mendicant orders, particularly in the second stage of the conflict, taking part in a concerted attack that temporarily affected their privileges.

#4105

Oliver of Paderborn

1170 - 1227 (57 years)

Oliver of Paderborn, also known as Oliver Scholasticus or Oliver of Cologne , was a German cleric, crusader and chronicler. He was the bishop of Paderborn from 1223 until 1225, when Pope Honorius III made him cardinal-bishop of Sabina. He was the first Paderborn bishop to become a cardinal. Oliver played a significant role in the Crusades as a preacher, participant and chronicler.

#4106

Katharine Lambert Richards Rockwell

1891 - 1972 (81 years)

Katharine Lambert Richards Rockwell was an American theologian, writer, and professor. Rockwell served as national secretary for the YWCA and as a member of their Board of Trustees for two terms. She also chaired the YWCA's Department of Religious Education.

#4107

Antoine de la Roche Chandieu

Antoine de la Roche Chandieu

1534 - 1591 (57 years)

Antoine de la Roche Chandieu was a French Reformed theologian, poet, diplomat and nobleman. His trend toward the Reformed Protestantism was strengthened during his study of law at Toulouse; after a theological course at Geneva, he became the pastor of the Reformed congregation of Paris between 1556 and 1562.

#4108

Hassan al-Jabarti

1698 - 1774 (76 years)

Hassan al-Jabarti was a Somali mathematician, theologian, astronomer and philosopher who lived in Cairo, Egypt during the 18th century. Biography Al-Jabarti was the father of the historian Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, and originated from the Somali city of Zeila. Hassan is considered one of the great scholars of the 18th century. He frequently conducted experiments in his own house, which was visited and observed by Western students.

#4109

Ishodad of Merv

Mar Ishodad of Merv was a bishop of Hdatta during the Abbasid Caliphate and prominent theologian of the Church of the East, best known for his Commentaries on the Syriac Bible. Life Very little is known of Ishoʿdad's life, but a few details have survived in annotations to the list of patriarchs compiled by Mari ibn Suleiman and Amr ibn Matta. His epithet "of Merv" may denote a birthplace, meaning that he was born in the city of Merv in Khorasan, but this inference remains conjectural: his relationship to Merv is not known with certainty. A member of the Church of the East—historically, thoug...

#4110

Peter Payne

1385 - 1456 (71 years)

Peter Payne was an English theologian, diplomat, Lollard and Taborite. The son of a Frenchman by an English wife, he was born at Hough-on-the-Hill near Grantham. He was educated in Oxford, where he adopted Lollard opinions, and had graduated as a master of arts before 6 October 1406, when he was concerned in the irregular proceedings through which a letter declaring the sympathy of the university was addressed to the Bohemian reformers. From 1410 to 1414 Payne was principal of St Edmund Hall, and during these years was engaged in controversy with Thomas Netter of Walden, the Carmelite defende...

#4111

Innocent

1600 - 1683 (83 years)

Innokenty Gizel was a Prussian-born historian, writer, and political and ecclesiastic figure, who had adopted Orthodox Christianity and made a substantial contribution to Ukrainian culture. Innokentiy Gizel was a rector of the Kyivan Theological School. In 1656, he was appointed archmandrite of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Innokentiy Gizel is known to have supported the unification of Ukraine and autonomy of the Kyiv clergy, simultaneously. Innokentiy Gizel is generally credited for writing the Synopsis in 1674, but some researchers deny his authorship.

#4112

Uthred of Boldon

1320 - 1397 (77 years)

Uthred or Uhtred of Boldon was an English Benedictine monk, theologian and writer, born at Boldon, North Durham; he died at Finchale Abbey. Life Uhtred joined the Benedictine community of Durham Abbey about 1332 and was sent to London in 1337. Three years later he entered Durham College, Oxford, a house which the Durham Benedictines had established at Oxford for those of their members who pursued their studies at the University of Oxford. He was graduated there as licentiate in 1352 and as doctor in 1357. During the succeeding ten years, and even previously, he took part in numerous disputations at Oxford University, many of which were directed against members of the mendicant orders.

#4113

Johannes Mathesius

Johannes Mathesius

1504 - 1565 (61 years)

Johannes Mathesius , also called Johann Mathesius or John Mathesius, was a German minister and a Lutheran reformer. He is best known for his compilation of Martin Luther's Table Talk, or notes taken of Luther's conversation and published afterwards. He rivaled Anton Lauterbach in his diligence in notetaking, and surpassed him in the discrimination with which he arranged it.

#4114

William Taylor

William Taylor was a medieval English theologian and priest, executed as a Lollard. Nothing is known of Taylor's career before he named as Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford in a rent roll for 1405–1406. One sermon from 1406 survives, and was republished by the Early English Text Society in 1993.

#4115

Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotis

Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotis

1880 - 1961 (81 years)

Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotes was a bishop of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. He was the Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Korçë in Albania between 1937 and 1939, and a professor of philosophy and author on religious matters. He later became one of the leaders of the Northern Epirus movement, propagating that Greece should annex southern Albania.

#4116

Nicolas d'Orbellis

1500 - 1472 (-28 years)

Nicolas d'Orbellis was a French Franciscan theologian and philosopher, of the Scotist school. Biography He was born about 1400. He seems to have entered the monastery of the Observantines, founded in 1407, one of the first in France.

#4117

Thomas Nowell

1730 - 1801 (71 years)

Thomas Nowell was a Welsh-born clergyman, historian and religious controversialist. Life Nowell was the son of Cradock Nowell of Cardiff. He went up to Oriel College, Oxford, in 1746 and in 1747 he won the Duke of Beaufort's exhibition. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1750, was awarded an exhibitionship in 1752, and took his Master of Arts degree in 1753. Nowell was made a fellow of Oriel in 1753 and served as junior treasurer to college between 1755 and 1757, senior treasurer between 1757 and 1758, and Dean between 1758 and 1760 and again in 1763.

#4118

Suzanne de Dietrich

1891 - 1981 (90 years)

Suzanne Anne de Dietrich was a French Protestant theologian known for her work in the ecumenical movement. Youth and education Alsatian origins Suzanne de Dietrich is the daughter of Charles de Dietrich and Anne von Türcke, and the granddaughter of Albert de Dietrich. The de Dietrich family is an emblematic family of Alsatian industrialists, several of whose members were ammestres or mayors of Strasbourg, notably Philippe-Frédéric, who commissioned the Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin, composed by Claude Rouget de Lisle on April 25, 1792, while Suzanne's maternal family belonged to the n...

#4119

Augustine Schulte

1856 - 1937 (81 years)

Augustine Joseph Schulte was an American Catholic priest and professor at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania, who served as the interim rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 1884 to 1885.

#4120

Cyrus David Foss

Cyrus David Foss

1834 - 1910 (76 years)

Cyrus David Foss was a prominent Methodist bishop in the latter 19th century, primarily serving in New York City and New England. Biography Foss was born in Kingston, New York, on January 17, 1834. He attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1854. He began his career teaching, and then entered the ministry. Foss was "pastor of the most prominent Methodist churches in this city [New York] and Brooklyn."

#4121

Thumama ibn Ashras

Thumama ibn Ashras , also known as Abu Maʿn al-Numayri was a Mu'tazila theologian during the era of the Abbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate. Life Thumama ibn Ashras was of Arab descent. He served under an influential family during the Abbasid era, the Barmakids, and was arrested when they fell from favour in 802 CE. His reputation was sufficiently restored by around the year 807 CE that Harun al-Ras̲h̲d had him join his expedition to Khorasan.

#4122

Francis Patrick McFarland

1819 - 1874 (55 years)

Francis Patrick McFarland was an American Catholic bishop who served as the third Bishop of Hartford. Biography His parents, John McFarland and Mary McKeever, emigrated from Armagh, and took up farming near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Francis was employed as teacher in the village school, but soon entered Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he graduated with high honours and was retained as teacher. The following year, 1845, he was ordained, 18 May, at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York by Archbishop Hughes, who immediately detailed the young priest to a professor's chair at St.

#4123

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Nasafi

Abu'l-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bazdawi al-Nasafi was an early 10th-century Isma'ili missionary and theologian. In he succeeded in converting the Samanid emir, Nasr II, to Isma'ilism, and ushered in a period of Isma'ili dominance at the Samanid court that lasted until Nasr's death. In the subsequent persecution of the Isma'ilis, launched by Nuh I, al-Nasafi himself fell victim. As a theologian, he is generally credited with being among those who introduced Neoplatonic concepts into Isma'ili theology. His doctrines dominated indigenous Isma'ilism in the Iranian lands in the 9th–10th centu...

#4124

Thomas Wilton

1270 - 1320 (50 years)

Thomas Wilton was an English theologian and scholastic philosopher, a pupil of Duns Scotus, a teacher at the University of Oxford and then the University of Paris, where he taught Walter Burley. He was a Fellow of Merton College from about 1288.

#4125

John Douglas

1721 - 1807 (86 years)

John Douglas was a Scottish scholar and Anglican bishop. Douglas was born at Pittenweem, Fife, the son of a shopkeeper, and was educated at Dunbar, East Lothian, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained his M.A. degree in 1743.

#4126

Joannes Aurifaber

1519 - 1575 (56 years)

Joannes Aurifaber , born Johann Goldschmidt in Weimar, Germany, was a Lutheran churchman, theologian, and a Protestant reformer. Owing to a similarly-named contemporary, he is sometimes distinguished by the cognomen Vimariensis or Vinariensis .

#4127

Giovanni Mincio da Morrovalle

1250 - 1312 (62 years)

Giovanni Mincio may also refer to antipope Benedict XGiovanni Minio or Mincio, of Morrovalle or Murrovale was an Italian Franciscan who became Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, cardinal-bishop of Porto , Protector of the Order of Friars Minors and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals .

#4128

Pieter Datheen

1531 - 1588 (57 years)

Pieter Datheen, Latin Petrus Dathenus, English, Peter Datheen, was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, the 16th century reformer of The Netherlands, who accomplished many things for the advancement the Reformed Church liturgy and ecclesiastical polity.

#4129

Richard Parsons

1882 - 1948 (66 years)

Richard Godfrey Parsons was an Anglican bishop who served in three dioceses during the first half of the 20th century, and a renowned liberal scholar. Parsonshe was born into a Lancashire family on 12 November 1882 and educated at Durham School and Magdalen College, Oxford. Ordained priest in 1907 he was a curate at Hampstead before four years as Chaplain at University College, Oxford. and Principal of Wells Theological College from 1911-16. He served for one year as a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces. Married with two children, he expressed a preference to remain 'at home' and he was posted to '2 General Hospital, London'.

#4130

John Howe

1630 - 1705 (75 years)

John Howe was an English Puritan theologian. He served briefly as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. Life Howe was born at Loughborough. At the age of five he went to Ireland with his father, who had been ejected from his living by William Laud, but returned to England in 1641 and settled with his father in Lancaster. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and at Magdalen College, Oxford , where for a time he was fellow and college chaplain. At Cambridge he came under the influence of Ralph Cudworth and Henry More, from whom he probably received the Platonic tinge that marks his writings. About 1654 he was appointed to the perpetual curacy of Great Torrington, Devon.

#4131

Henry Hayes Vowles

1843 - 1905 (62 years)

Henry Hayes Vowles was an English author, theologian and a Wesleyan Minister. He also published religious poetry. Parents He was the son of Henry Vowles of Bath and Mary Yeoman Harding of "The Chancellor" Wanstrow, Somerset. The parents of Henry Vowles were James Vowles of 2 Quiet Street Bath, and Martha Edney . James Vowles was the son of William Vowles of Walcot and Hannah Hancock. William Vowles was the son of James Vowles and Martha Jane married at Bath Abbey on 6 August 1728.

#4132

Richard Middleton

1300 - 1300 (0 years)

Richard Middleton was an English ecclesiastic and Lord Chancellor of England. Middleton was appointed Lord Chancellor on 29 July 1269. He was out of office before his death, but his successor Walter de Merton is first mentioned in the office on 29 November 1272.

#4133

Gerald Fitzgerald

1894 - 1969 (75 years)

Gerald Michael Cushing Fitzgerald, s.P. was an American Catholic priest known for founding the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete, which operates centers for priests dealing with challenges such as alcoholism, substance abuse and sexual misconduct.

#4134

Thomas Knaggs

1660 - 1709 (49 years)

Thomas Knaggs was a preacher and publisher of sermons. He was born about 1661 somewhere in County Durham, England, and nothing is known of his early life. He was educated at Durham School, and admitted as a sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1 June 1676. He matriculated in 1677, earned his BA in 1679 and MA in 1683. He had been ordained as a deacon of York in 1681 and was Vicar of Merrington in County Durham from 1682 to 1720. He was afternoon lecturer at All Saints, Newcastle from 1687 to 1697.

#4135

Rupertus Meldenius

Rupertus Meldenius

1582 - 1651 (69 years)

Rupertus Meldenius, aka Peter Meiderlin and Peter Meuderlinus was a Lutheran theologian and educator. The son of a Swabian priest, studied in Adelberg and after school visited the lower Konvikts in Maulbronn at the Tübinger Stift, where he met Johann Valentin Andreae. Meiderlin was a student of Mathias Haffenreffer and 1601 obtained a master's degree. In 1605, he was at the Repentant convent in Tübingen, 1607, he assumed the Chair of the deceased philologist Martin Crusius. After a post as senior deacon in Kirchheim unter Teck, 1612, he was "Ephorus" of the Evangelical College of St. Anna in Augsburg.

#4136

Johannes Magirus the elder

1537 - 1614 (77 years)

Johannes Magirus was a German Lutheran Theologian. Name change His name at birth, like that of his father, was Johannes Koch. The English language equivalent would be "John Cook". At some point he renamed himself "Johannes Magirus", reflecting an enthusiasm for classical culture that was common among many intellectuals of his time and place. Magirus is the Greek word for "cook."

#4137

Abul Hasan Hankari

1018 - 1093 (75 years)

Abul Hasan Hankari Abu Al Hasan Ali Bin Mohammad Qureshi Hashmi Hankari Harithi , town of Mosul , died 1st Moharram 486 AH , in Baghdad, was a Muslim mystic also renowned as one of the most influential Muslim scholar, philosopher, theologian and jurist of his time and Sufi based in Hankar.

#4138

Claudianus Mamertus

420 - 470 (50 years)

Claudianus Ecdidius Mamertus was a Gallo-Roman theologian and the younger brother of Saint Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne. Biography Descended probably from one of the leading families of the country, Claudianus Mamertus relinquished his worldly goods and embraced the monastic life. He assisted his brother in the discharge of his functions, and Sidonius Apollinaris describes him as directing the psalm-singing of the chanters, who were formed into groups and chanted alternate verses, whilst the bishop was at the altar celebrating the sacred mysteries. This passage is of importance in the history of liturgical chant.

#4139

John Harding

1501 - 1610 (109 years)

John Harding was an English churchman and academic. He was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford from 1591 to 1598, and President of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1607. He was also involved in the translation of the Authorized King James Version, becoming leader of the First Oxford Company of translators after the death of John Rainolds.

#4140

Simon Browne

1680 - 1732 (52 years)

Simon Browne was a dissenting minister and theologian. He was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England, in 1680. Early life Browne was preaching by the age of 20, and first became a minister at an independent church in Portsmouth before moving, in 1716, to preach at the Old Jewry meeting-house in London.

#4141

Sidi Boushaki

1394 - 1453 (59 years)

Sidi Boushaki or Ibrahim Ibn Faïd Ez-Zaouaoui was a maliki theologian born near the town of Thenia, east of Algiers. He was raised in a very spiritual environment with high Islamic values and ethics within the Algerian Islamic reference.

#4142

Gerhoh of Reichersberg

1092 - 1169 (77 years)

Gerhoh of Reichersberg was one of the most distinguished theologians of Germany in the twelfth century. He was provost of Reichersberg Abbey and a Canon Regular. He studied at Freising, Moosburg, and Hildesheim. In 1119, Bishop Hermann of Augsburg called him as "scholasticus" to the cathedral school of that city; shortly afterwards, though still a deacon, he made him a canon of the cathedral. Gradually Gerhoh adopted a stricter ecclesiastical attitude, and eventually withdrew from the simoniacal Bishop Hermann, and took refuge in the monastery of Raitenbuch in the Diocese of Freising. After ...

#4143

Charles Daubuz

1673 - 1717 (44 years)

Charles Daubuz or Charles Daubus , was a Church of England clergyman and theologian. Daubuz was a French Protestant divine, who became vicar of Brotherton. In his youth, he removed to England on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes . He was the author of a few theological works, most notably of A Perpetual Commentary on the Revelation of St. John , which is much esteemed. He died on 14 June 1717.

#4144

Al-Muhasibi

781 - 857 (76 years)

Al-Muḥāsibī was a Muslim Arab, theologian, philosopher and ascetic. He is considered to be the founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy which combined Kalam and Sufism, and a teacher of the Sufi masters Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sirri Saqti.

#4145

Sylvester Kosiv

1607 - 1657 (50 years)

Sylvester Kossów, Kosiv or Kosov was the Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Eastern Orthodox Church from 1647 to 1657. He reigned during the Khmelnytsky uprising.

#4146

Facundus of Hermiane

550 - 570 (20 years)

Facundus of Hermiana was a 6th-century Christian author, and bishop of Hermiana in North Africa. About his career little is known. His place in history is due entirely to the opposition which he offered to the condemnation of the "Three Chapters". At the instance of Theodore Ascidas, and with the ostensible purpose of reuniting to the Church the Acephali, a sect of Monophysites, Justinian was induced to censure the "Three Chapters". By this act certain writings of the fifth-century Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa were condemned.

#4147

Sidi M'hamed Bou Qobrine

1720 - 1793 (73 years)

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Gashtuli al-Jurjuri al-Azhari Abu Qabrayn , mostly known as Sidi M'hamed Bou Qobrine was a Berber ash'ari 'alim, founder of the Rahmaniyya Sufi order and is one of the seven Patron Saints of Algiers. The Sidi M'Hamed District in Algiers and the municipality of the same name, Sidi M'Hamed, are both named after him.

#4148

Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg

1210 - 1270 (60 years)

Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg was a Dominican theologian from Strasbourg, Alsace. He is now considered to be the author of the Compendium theologiae or Compendium theologicae veritatis. On account of its scope and style, as well as its practical arrangement, it was for 400 years used as a textbook. It may have been the most widely read theological work of the later Middle Ages, in western Europe. In 1232 a sale of land to Hugo von Ripelin, then the paddock prior of the Dominican Predigerkloster in Zürich, is mentioned.

#4149

Robert of Bridlington

1200 - 1200 (0 years)

Robert of Bridlington was an English clergyman and theologian who was the fourth prior of Bridlington Priory. He held the office during the period from 1147 to 1156, but it is not clear if he died in office or resigned before his death. Besides holding monastic office, he wrote a number of commentaries on biblical books as well as other treatises. Not all of his works have survived to the current day.

#4150

Étienne Dumont

1759 - 1829 (70 years)

Pierre Étienne Louis Dumont , sometimes anglicised as Stephen Dumont, was a Swiss French political writer. He is chiefly remembered as the French editor of the writings of the English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham.

« Previous Next »

Image Attributions