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List of Famous Theologians

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Updated November 29, 2017 75.5k views 205 items

List of famous theologians, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top theologians in the world? This includes the most prominent theologians, living and dead, both in America and abroad. This list of notable theologians is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic theologians were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned theologians.

The list you're viewing is made up of many different people, including Martin Luther and Ian Bradley. Featuring German theologians, Christian theologians, Dutch theologians, modern theologians, great theologians, and more, 

From reputable, prominent, and well known theologians to the lesser known theologians of today, these are some of the best professionals in the theologian field. If you want to answer the questions, "Who are the most famous theologians ever?" and "What are the names of famous theologians?" then you're in the right place. 
Pope Benedict XVI is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Pope Benedict XVI (born 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as head of the Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in ...more
Albert Schweitzer is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Albert Schweitzer (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran, Schweitzer ...more
Martin Luther is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Martin Luther, , (; German: [ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈlʊtɐ]; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant ...more

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John Calvin is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list List of Famous Theologians
John Calvin (;French: Jean Calvin [ʒɑ̃ kalvɛ̃]; born Jehan Cauvin; 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a ...more

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John Wesley is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list List of Famous Theologians
John Wesley (; 28 June [O.S. 17 June] 1703 – 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as ...more
Desiderius Erasmus is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; 28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus or Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch philosopher and Christian humanist who is widely considered to have been ...more

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Søren Kierkegaard... is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( SORR-ən KEER-kə-gard, also US: -⁠gor, Danish: [sɶːɐ̯n̩ ˈkʰiɐ̯kəkɒːˀ] (listen); 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social ...more

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Avery Cardinal Dulles is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Avery Robert Dulles, S.J. (; August 24, 1918 – December 12, 2008) was a Jesuit priest, theologian and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 ...more
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German: [ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ]; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. ...more
Reinhold Niebuhr is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 ...more
Ian Bradley is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Ian Campbell Bradley (born 28 May 1950) is a retired British academic, author, theologian, Church of Scotland minister, journalist and broadcaster. At the University of St Andrews, he was ...more
Mary Daly is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Mary Daly (October 16, 1928 – January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", ...more

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Nasir al-Din Tusi is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Nasir al-Din Tusi
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tūsī (Persian: محمد بن محمد بن حسن طوسی‎‎ 18 February 1201 – 26 June 1274), better known as Nasir al-Din Tusi (Persian: نصیر الدین طوسی‎; or simply Tusi in ...more
Pierre Abélard is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Peter Abelard (; Latin: Petrus Abaelardus or Abailardus; French: Pierre Abélard, pronounced [a.be.laːʁ]; 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian, ...more
Mercy Oduyoye is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Mercy Oduyoye
Mercy Amba Oduyoye is a Methodist theologian known for her work in African women's theology. She is currently the director of the Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity ...more
Elizabeth A. Johnson is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Elizabeth A. Johnson
Elizabeth A. Johnson is a Christian feminist theologian. She is a Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City. She is a member of the Sisters ...more
Johan Heyns is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Johan Adam Heyns (27 May 1928 – 5 November 1994) was an Afrikaner Calvinist theologian and moderator of the general synod of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in South Africa. He was ...more
Karl Barth is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Karl Barth (; German: [baɐ̯t]; (1886-05-10)May 10, 1886 – (1968-12-10)December 10, 1968) was a Swiss Reformed theologian who is most well known for his landmark The Epistle to the Romans, ...more
Karl Jaspers is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Karl Theodor Jaspers (; German: [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈjaspɐs]; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, ...more
Alister McGrath is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Alister Edgar McGrath (born 1953) is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos ...more
Paul Tillich is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most ...more
Jonathan Edwards is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Jonathan Edwards was a Protestant preacher, philosopher, and theologian. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian," and one ...more
Mohammad Khatami is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Seyyed Mohammad Khatami (Persian: سید محمد خاتمی‎, pronounced [ sejˈjed mohæmˈmæde xɒːtæˈmiː] (listen); born 14 October 1943) served as the fifth President of Iran from 3 ...more
Michael Servetus is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Michael Servetus (; Spanish: Miguel Serveto as real name, French: Michel Servet), also known as Miguel Servet, Miguel de Villanueva, Michel Servet, Revés, or Michel de Villeneuve ...more

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Leonardo Boff is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list List of Famous Theologians
Leonardo Boff (Portuguese pronunciation: [leoˈnaʁdu ˈbɔf], born December 14, 1938), born as Genézio Darci Boff (pronounced [ʒeˈnɛzju daʁˈsi ˈbɔf]), is a Brazilian theologian and writer, ...more