Religious Thinkers and Theological Geniuses

Abu al Ala Al Ma'arri

Blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer who Lived during the Islamic Golden Age

Akhenaten

A 18th Dynasty pharaoh

Albertus Magnus

A 13th century German Dominican friar and saint

Antoine Arnauld

A French Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician.

Athanasius Kircher

A German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works.

Augustine of Hippo

A Catholic theologian, philosopher, Church Father, bishop and Christian saint

Averroes - Ibn Rushd

A Muslim Andalusi scholar and philosopher.

Bede

An English Benedictine monk at the monastery of St. Peter and its companion monastery of St. Paul.

Cardinal Richelieu

A French clergyman and statesman.

Clive Staples Lewis

A British writer and lay theologian best known for The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilog

Cornelius Jansen

A Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres in Flanders and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism.

David Strauss

A German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical

David Livingstone

A Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary who is one of the most popular British heroes

Erasmus

A Dutch philosopher and Christian scholar who is widely considered to have been one of the greatest scholars of the nort

Diagoras of Melos

A Greek poet and sophist of the 5th century BC who allegedly chopped up a wooden statue of Heracles and used it to roast

Acharya S

An American genius writer supporting the theory that Jesus never existed as a historical person.

Meister Eckhart

A German theologian, philosopher and mystic who rose into prominence during the Avignon Papacy.

Vilna Gaon

A Talmudist, Halakhist, and Kabbalist who encouraged his students to study natural sciences, and even translated geometr

Emanuel Swedenborg

A Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic best known his book on the afterlife, Heav

Ernest Renan

A French Orientalist and Semitic scholar who wrote influential and pioneering historical works on the origins of early C

Francis Atterbury

An English man of letters, politician and bishop best known for his work An Answer to some Considerations, the Spirit of

Francisco Suárez

A Spanish Jesuit priest considered to be greatest scholastics after Thomas Aquinas

François Fénelon

French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer

Friedrich Schleiermacher

A German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the

Friedrich Nietzsche

German philosopher cultural critic, poet, and philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellec

George Fox

Founding the Religious Society of Friends,

George Berkeley

An Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"

Georges Lemaître

A Belgian Catholic priest, mathematician, astronomer, and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain.

Girolamo Savonarola

An Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence

Giulio Alberoni

An Italian cardinal and statesman in the service of Philip V of Spain known for being a remarkable soldier and great gou

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

A German polymath, physician, theologian, and occult writer widely considered as the top occultists of the early modern

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

An English politician, government official and political philosopher who supported the Church of England.

Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais

A French Catholic priest, philosopher and political theorist. He was an ardent supporter of separation of church and sta

Ibn Arabi

An Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influential within Islamic thought

Imhotep

An Egyptian chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser, probable architect of Djoser's step pyramid, and high priest of the sun go

Ivan Ivec

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

A French bishop and theologian who is considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time.

Jean Meslier

A French Catholic priest who wrote a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism and materialism

John Philoponus

Philosopher, Theologist, Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer, Writer

John Henry Newman

An English theologian, scholar, and poet, first an Anglican priest and later a Catholic priest and cardinal, who was can

John Witherspoon

A Scottish American Presbyterian minister and a Founding Father of the United States.

John Calvin

A French theologian, pastor, and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation.

John Bunyan

An English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress.

Joseph Priestley

An English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian who discovered oxygen in 1774.

Cardinal Mazarin

An Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician who served as the chief minister to the kings of France Louis XIII and Lou

Lancelot Andrewes

An English bishop and scholar who oversaw the translation of the King James Version of the Bible

Macrobius

A Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century best known for his works Commentary on the Dream of Scipio a

Maimonides

12th-century Sephardic Jewish rabbi & scholar who is considered to be the greatest Jewish scholar in the Second Milleniu

Nicholas of Cusa

A German philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renaissanc

Nicolas Malebranche

A French Oratorian priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustin

Origen

An early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria.

Paracelsus

A Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance.

Peter Abelard

A medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet.

Philip Melanchthon

A German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformati

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

A French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher, and teacher.

Pythagoras

An ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism

Ralph Cudworth

An English Anglican clergyman, Christian Hebraist, classicist, theologian and philosopher, and a leading figure among th

Richard Bentley

An English classical scholar, critic, and theologian considered the "founder of historical philology",

Richard Baxter

An English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist.

Robert Taylor

An early 19th-century Radical, a clergyman turned freethinker.

Robert G. Ingersoll

An American lawyer, writer, and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defense of agnosticism.

Roger Bacon

A medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empi

Roger Joseph Boscovich

A physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, and Jesuit priest from the Republic of

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

An English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England.

Samuel Clarke

English philosopher and Anglican cleric. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and

Søren Kierkegaard

A Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first exi

Tertullian

A prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.

Theodore Beza

A French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformatio

Theodorus the Atheist

A Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic school who taught that the goal of life was to obtain joy and avoid grief.

Thomas Wolsey

An English statesman and Catholic bishop who served as an almoner for Henry VIII.

Thomas Chalmers

A Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the

Thomas Cranmer

A leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a s

Thomas Hobbes

An English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy.

Thomas Aquinas

An Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church

Thomas Browne

An English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and me

Tommaso Campanella

An Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.

Huldrych Zwingli

A leader of the Reformation in Switzerland.

Vergilius of Salzburg

An Irish churchman and early astronomer.

Vyasa

A legendary sage portrayed in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and regarded as the compiler of that work

William Wotton

An English theologian, classical scholar and linguist chiefly remembered for his remarkable abilities in learning langua