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,
#451
Antonio Spadaro
#35389
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
Antonio Spadaro, SJ is an Italian Jesuit priest, journalist and writer. Career Spadaro has been the editor in chief of the Jesuit-affiliated journal La Civiltà Cattolica since 2011. He is also a consultor to both the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Secretariat for Communications .
Go to Profile#452
Mario Aurelio Poli
#22314
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Mario Aurelio Poli is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 2013 to 2023. He was the Bishop of Santa Rosa from 2008 to 2013 and before that an auxiliary bishop in Buenos Aires from 2002 to 2008. Pope Francis, his predecessor in Buenos Aires, made him a cardinal in 2014.
Go to Profile#453
Lorenzo Albacete
#40076
Overall Influence
1941 - 2014 (73 years)
Lorenzo Albacete Cintrón was a Puerto Rican theologian, Roman Catholic priest, scientist and author. A New York Times Magazine contributor, Albacete was one of the leaders in the United States for the international Catholic movement Communion and Liberation. He was the Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Crossroads Cultural Center.
Go to Profile#454
Duane Litfin
#27586
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
A. Duane Litfin is an American academic administrator and evangelical minister. He was the seventh president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Early life and education Litfin was born on November 14, 1945. He holds an undergraduate degree in biblical studies from the Philadelphia College of Bible and a master's degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. His two doctoral degrees are from Purdue University and Oxford . He came to Wheaton in 1993 from Memphis, Tennessee, where he served the First Evangelical Church as senior pastor. Prior to that, he was an associate professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Go to Profile#455
L. Gregory Jones
#26781
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Lorentz Gregory Jones is an American theologian and academic administrator who is currently the President of Belmont University, serving since June 2021. He was previously the executive vice president and provost of Baylor University and Dean of the Duke Divinity School at Duke University. He also formerly served as vice president and vice provost for global strategy and programs at Duke University . He is also A. Morris and Ruth W. Williams distinguished professor of theology in the Duke Divinity School. In addition, he serves as senior fellow for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, and senior fellow at the Fuqua-Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics.
Go to Profile#456
J. Ramsey Michaels
#47314
Overall Influence
1931 - 2020 (89 years)
J. Ramsey Michaels, Th.D., Harvard was an American theologian who was for many years a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Southwest Missouri State University. He continued to teach occasionally as an adjunct professor at Bangor Theological Seminary in Portland, Maine, and as a visiting professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. He is perhaps best known for his commentary on John which is a replacement volume in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series.
Go to Profile#457
George Chryssides
#8498
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
George D. Chryssides is a British academic and researcher on new religious movements and cults, has taught at several British universities, becoming head of Religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton in 2001. He is an honorary research fellow in contemporary religion at York St John University and the University of Birmingham.
Go to Profile#458
Wilton Daniel Gregory
#15596
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Wilton Daniel Gregory is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been serving as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington since 2019. Pope Francis elevated him to the rank of cardinal on November 28, 2020. He is the first African-American cardinal.
Go to Profile#459
Michael Banner
#21297
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Michael Banner is Dean and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From 2004–2006 he was Director of the UK Economic and Social Research Council's Genomics Research Forum and Professor of Public Policy and Ethics in the Life Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, and from 1994 to 2004 F.D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology, King’s College, London. Well known in science and public policy arenas, he was also a member of the Human Tissue Authority, Chairman of the Home Office Animal Procedures Committee from 1998 to 2006 and a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 2014 to...
Go to Profile#460
S. Lewis Johnson
#34015
Overall Influence
1915 - 2004 (89 years)
Samuel Lewis Johnson, Jr. , was a conservative evangelical pastor and theologian, was for many years a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. Johnson was a moderate dispensationalist and a Five-point Calvinist in his soteriology. He was a Biblical scholar and theologian of "rare abilities" and of international renown.
Go to Profile#461
Jack Cottrell
#41684
Overall Influence
1938 - 2022 (84 years)
Jack Cottrell was a Christian theologian, philosopher and author in the Christian churches and churches of Christ. He was a professor of theology at Cincinnati Christian University from 1967 to 2015. He authored many books on Christian philosophy, doctrine and theology.
Go to Profile#462
Patriarch Daniel of Romania
#26067
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Daniel is the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The elections took place on 12 September 2007. Daniel won with a majority of 95 votes out of 161 against Bartolomeu Anania. He was officially enthroned on 30 September 2007 in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. As such, his official title is "Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrogea, Locum tenens of the throne of Caesarea of Cappadocia, Patriarch of All Romania".
Go to Profile#463
Norbert Lohfink
#54426
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (96 years)
Norbert Lohfink SJ is a member of the Jesuit Order, German Catholic priest and theologian . He is emeritus professor of exegesis of the Old Testament at the Philosophical-Theological College Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main.
Go to Profile#464
Víctor Manuel Fernández
#31306
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (62 years)
Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church and a theologian. He served as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina from December 2009 to April 2018. He was named Archbishop of La Plata on 2 June 2018. On 1 July 2023, Pope Francis named Fernández prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith as of mid-September. Pope Francis made Fernández a cardinal on 30 September 2023.
Go to Profile#465
Mark Miravalle
#74747
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Mark Miravalle is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, specializing in Mariology. He is president of Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici, a Catholic movement promoting the concepts of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix.
Go to Profile#466
Claus Westermann
#34058
Overall Influence
1909 - 2000 (91 years)
Claus Westermann was a German Protestant Old Testament scholar. He taught at the University of Heidelberg from 1958 to 1978. Biography Born to African missionaries, he finished his studies in 1933 and he became a pastor. During his theological studies he started studying the Old Testament, and became particularly interested in the content of the Psalms. During the Nazi regime he served in the German army for five years where he was a translator on the Russian front. After the war Westermann started preaching again and also went to teach Old Testament at Heidelberg, where he would continue to ...
Go to Profile#467
Robert M. Grant
#31445
Overall Influence
1917 - 2014 (97 years)
Robert McQueen Grant was an American academic theologian and the Carl Darling Buck Professor Emeritus of Humanities and of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chicago . His scholarly work focused on the New Testament and Early Christianity.
Go to Profile#468
Cyril O'Regan
#29551
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Cyril J. O'Regan is an Irish Catholic writer and the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. O'Regan studied at University College Dublin gaining a BA and MA. He studied at Yale University earning an MA, MLitt and PhD.
Go to Profile#469
Gisela Forster
#52666
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Gisela Forster is a German writer, teacher, and Catholic theologian. Life Forster was born in Munich to parents from Bavaria and Hungary. After school at the Elsa-Brändström-Gymnasium in Munich-Pasing, Forster studied Catholic theology, philosophy, arts and architecture at the Technical University of Munich. After graduating, Forster worked as teacher at the Benedictine Schäftlarn school from 1972 to 1989. In 1989, Forster left the job to marry Anselm Forster, with whom she had two children. She was elected to the district council of Starnberg in 1989, serving as chairman on the council until 2002.
Go to Profile#470
Julius Kim
#32376
Overall Influence
Julius Jason Kim is a Korean-American theologian and former president of The Gospel Coalition. Biography Born in Los Angeles, Kim spent part of his childhood in South Korea before returning to California at the age of 12. He received a BA from Vanguard University, M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California, and Ph.D. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Go to Profile#471
J. Alan Groves
#43756
Overall Influence
1952 - 2007 (55 years)
James Alan Groves was a Hebrew Bible scholar, theologian, educator, and church elder. Born in Springfield, Missouri, he earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College in 1975, a Master of Arts in Religion and Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary.
Go to Profile#472
O. Palmer Robertson
#33005
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (87 years)
Owen Palmer Robertson is an American Christian theologian and biblical scholar. He taught at Reformed Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, Knox Theological Seminary as well as at the African Bible Colleges of Malawi and Uganda. He also served as principal of the latter institution. Robertson was the first elected male SGA president of Belhaven College in 1957.
Go to Profile#473
Christopher Morse
#48973
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Christopher Ludwig Morse is an American Christian theologian. He is Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Early life and education Born in 1935 and raised in Virginia, Morse received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Randolph–Macon College, a degree from Yale Divinity School, and Master of Sacred Theology and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Union Theological Seminary. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.
Go to Profile#474
Dave Hunt
#20174
Overall Influence
1926 - 2013 (87 years)
David Charles Haddon Hunt was an American Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He was in full-time ministry from 1973 until his death. The Berean Call, which highlights Hunt's material, was started in 1992. From 1999 to 2010, he also hosted Search the Scriptures Daily radio ministry alongside T.A. McMahon. Hunt traveled to the Near East, lived in Egypt, and wrote numerous books on theology, prophecy, cults, and other religions, including critiques of Catholicism, Islam, Mormonism, and Calvinism, among others. Hunt's Christian theology was evangelical dispensational and...
Go to Profile#475
Willem A. VanGemeren
#35005
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Willem A. VanGemeren is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of a number of books, including Interpreting the Prophetic Word and a commentary on Psalms in the Expositor's Bible Commentary series . He was a senior editor of the five-volume work The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis in which ten essays have been compiled to thoroughly explain proper hermeneutics and Biblical interpretation. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Evangelical Theological Society, and...
Go to Profile#476
John Christopher Thomas
#46462
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
John Christopher Thomas is a theologian within the Pentecostal movement and the Clarence J. Abbott Professor of Biblical Studies at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. Thomas received the B.A. degree from Lee College in 1976, his M.A. from the Church of God School of Theology in 1977, the M.Div. from Ashland Theological Seminary in 1978, a Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1979 and a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield in 1990. Thomas has been a member of the full-time faculty of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary since 1982. Professor Thomas has been honored for his work i...
Go to Profile#477
David F. Ford
#17999
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
David Frank Ford is an Anglican public theologian. He was the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, beginning in 1991. He is now an Emeritus Regius Professor of Divinity. His research interests include political theology, ecumenical theology, Christian theologians and theologies, theology and poetry, the shaping of universities and of the field of theology and religious studies within universities, hermeneutics, and interfaith theology and relations. He is the founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme and a co-founder of the Society for Scriptural Reason...
Go to Profile#478
Tuomo Mannermaa
#63418
Overall Influence
1937 - 2015 (78 years)
Tuomo Mannermaa was professor emeritus of ecumenical theology at University of Helsinki. He is known especially for his theological criticism of the Leuenberg Concord and his research on the relationship between justification and theosis in the theology of Martin Luther. His initiating and furthering this research caused him to be regarded as the father of "The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther" or "the Finnish School of Tuomo Mannermaa".
Go to Profile#479
Klaus Berger
#21737
Overall Influence
1940 - 2020 (80 years)
Klaus Berger was a German academic theologian. Berger was Professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg. Biography He is known for his study and publications on the New Testament. He had been quoted in several Catholic news sources to the effect that he was Catholic or somehow "both Catholic and Protestant." This idea was rejected by the Roman Catholic Church and, after this controversy, he left the Protestant Church in Baden and became a member once more of the Roman Catholic Church .
Go to Profile#480
Dion Forster
#14077
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (52 years)
Dion Angus Forster is an academic and clergyman. He serves as a professor of Public Theology in the Faculty of Religion and Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is a Research Fellow in the Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, in the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University where he previously served as full professor and head of department until October 2023. In addition, Prof Forster is a Research Fellow at Wesley House, Cambridge, and an Associate of the Allan Gray Centre for Values Based Leadership at the University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business.
Go to Profile#481
Sebastian Kappen
#35084
Overall Influence
1924 - 1993 (69 years)
Sebastian Kappen was an Indian Jesuit priest and liberation theologian. Formation and studies Born into a traditional Nasrani family in Kodikulam, Travancore, during the British Raj, Kappen entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 20 , and was ordained a priest on 24 March 1957. He pursued studies at the Gregorian University , obtaining a doctorate in Theology with a thesis on Religious Alienation and Praxis according to Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. This was a time when Marxism was growing in influence in his home state of Kerala, in India.
Go to Profile#482
Robert Preus
#41212
Overall Influence
1924 - 1995 (71 years)
Robert David Preus was an American Lutheran pastor, professor, author, and seminary president. Biography Robert Preus was born to Minnesota Governor J.A.O. Preus and Idella Haugen Preus. His older brother is J.A.O. Preus II, former president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod .
Go to Profile#483
Peter C. Phan
#33580
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
Peter C. Phan is a Vietnamese-born American Catholic theologian and the inaugural holder of the Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University. Biography Phan has earned three doctorates: Doctor of Theology from Salesian University in Rome , Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London , and Doctor of Divinity from the University of London . Phan has also been awarded three honorary Doctorates: Doctor of Theology honoris causa, Catholic Theological Union , Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa, Elms College , and Doctor of Divinity, Virginia Theological Seminary .
Go to Profile#484
James Emery White
#33020
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
James Emery White , is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry that explores the intersection of faith and culture and hosts ChurchandCulture.org; ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where he also served as their fourth president; and author of more than 20 books that have been translated into ten languages.
Go to Profile#485
Michael Welker
#48839
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Michael Welker is a German Protestant theologian and a senior professor of Systematic Theology . Biblical Theology and “general theory” are the main foci of his research. He reached a wider audience with publications about the Spirit of God, creation , the role of the church in pluralistic societies, resurrection and the Protestant view of the Lord’s Supper, but also with his work related to Alfred North Whitehead and process theology, to Niklas Luhmann and systems theory.
Go to Profile#486
Jean-Marc Ela
#48802
Overall Influence
1936 - 2008 (72 years)
Jean-Marc Ela was a Cameroonian sociologist and theologian. Working variously as a diocesan priest and a professor, Ela was the author of many books on theology, philosophy, and social sciences in Africa. His most famous work, African Cry has been called the "soundest illustration" of the spirit of liberation theology in sub-Saharan Africa. His works are widely cited as exemplary of sub-Saharan African Christian theology for their focus on contextualisation and their emphasis on community-centered approaches to theology.
Go to Profile#487
Heiko Oberman
#22099
Overall Influence
1930 - 2001 (71 years)
Heiko Augustinus Oberman was a Dutch historian and theologian who specialized in the study of the Reformation. Life Oberman was born in Utrecht on 15 October 1930. He earned his doctorate in theology from the University of Utrecht in 1957 and joined the faculty of the Harvard Divinity School in 1958. There he rose rapidly from instructor to associate professor and, in 1963, to professor of church history. He was appointed Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School in 1964 and continued teaching there until 1966. He then accepted a chair in the theology faculty at the ...
Go to Profile#488
Timothy T. O'Donnell
#38546
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Timothy Terrance O'Donnell is an academic and Catholic theologian and the current president of Christendom College, located in Front Royal, Virginia. Biography O'Donnell received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, Italy, in 1981 with a dissertation entitled A study in the relationship between doctrine and spirituality : the contemporary and perennial value of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He is the first layman to receive a licentiate and a doctorate in Ascetical and Mystical Theology from the Angelicum.
Go to Profile#489
David W. Miller
#23888
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
David W. Miller is on the faculty of Princeton University, Director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, and scholar of the "faith at work" movement. Previously he taught for five years at the Yale School of Management and the Yale Divinity School and was the founding Executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Prior to academia he was a senior executive in international business for 16 years.
Go to Profile#490
Esau McCaulley
#40194
Overall Influence
Esau McCaulley is an American biblical scholar and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, Illinois, canon theologian for the Anglican Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, as well as a theologian-in-residence at Progressive Baptist Church, a historically black congregation in Chicago.
Go to Profile#491
Dávid Bartimej Tencer
#69526
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (61 years)
Dávid Bartimej Tencer, OFM Cap. , is a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church and has served as the Bishop of Reykjavík since 2015. Early life and priesthood Tencer was born on 18 May 1963 in Nová Baňa, Czechoslovakia . On 15 June 1986, Dávid Tencer received the sacrament of priestly ordination for the Diocese of Banská Bystrica. In 1990, Tencer entered into the Order of the Capuchins, and on 28 August 1994 he made his perpetual profession. He then served as a parish administrator in Holíč. In 1996, he was transferred to Rat icov vrch at Hriňova. Between 2001 and 2004 he taught homiletics and spiritual theology in the seminary in Badin.
Go to Profile#492
Brian E. Daley
#37840
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (84 years)
Brian Edward Daley, S.J. is an American Catholic priest, Jesuit, and theologian. He is currently the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and was the recipient of a Ratzinger Prize for Theology in 2012.
Go to Profile#493
Anthony Thiselton
#27712
Overall Influence
1937 - 2023 (86 years)
Anthony Charles Thiselton was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and academic. He wrote a number of books and articles on a range of topics in Christian theology, biblical studies, and the philosophy of religion. He served on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, appointed by the Minister of Health.
Go to Profile#494
Henning Toft Bro
#68180
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Henning Toft Bro is a Danish prelate who served as the Bishop of Aalborg, Denmark from 2010 until 2021. Education After graduation, Toft Bro went to the sea where he worked as a fisherman. Afterwards he was a port worker at the harbor in Thyborøn. A year and a half later he went to Nørre Nissum to study at the Nørre Nissum Seminarium and HF. After he went to Aarhus University to study theology. Here he became a graduate of cand.theol in the spring of 1985.
Go to Profile#495
Stanley M. Horton
#36346
Overall Influence
1916 - 2014 (98 years)
Stanley Monroe Horton , was an American Renewal theologian within the Pentecostal movement and the author of numerous books. He served as the senior editorial advisor for the Modern English Version Bible, and he was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible and Theology at the Assemblies of God USA, Springfield, Missouri.
Go to Profile#496
Darrell Guder
#67112
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
Darrell Likens Guder is a theologian and missiologist who is Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary. Biography Guder received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, he served as a student outreach pastor and as a faculty member of the Karlshohe College in the German Lutheran Church.
Go to Profile#497
Timothy Radcliffe
#9711
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, OP is an English Catholic priest and Dominican friar who served as master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the only member of the order's English Province to hold that office.
Go to Profile#498
Derek Tidball
#49129
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
Derek John Tidball is a British theologian, sociologist of religion, and Baptist minister. From 1995 to 2007 he was the principal of London Bible College which later took the name London School of Theology.
Go to Profile#499
Juris Rubenis
#59162
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Juris Rubenis is a Latvian Lutheran pastor. Rubenis has written more than 20 original literature and theology books. Many of his books have been translated into Lithuanian, German and English. He has published more than 500 articles in German, English, Russian and other languages.
Go to Profile#500
Thomas Weinandy
#38289
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Thomas Gerard Weinandy is an American Roman Catholic priest and a leading scholar. He is a prolific writer in both academic and popular works, including articles, books, and study courses. Biography Weinandy entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1966, was solemnly professed in 1970, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He earned a BA in philosophy at St. Fidelis College, Herman, Pennsylvania, in 1969, an MA in systematic theology at Washington Theological Union in 1972, and a doctorate in historical theology at King's College London in 1975. He lived in and was an active memb...
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