Theologians & Religious Scholars
Theologians and religious scholars have influenced the beliefs, teachings, and traditions of world religions throughout history. Learn more about theologians and religious thinkers from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and other faiths.
Theologians & Religious Scholars Encyclopedia Articles
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Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German theologian and religious reformer who was the catalyst of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Through his words and actions, Luther precipitated a movement that reformulated...
Moses Maimonides
Moses Maimonides was a Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician, the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His first major work, begun at age 23 and completed 10 years later, was a commentary...
Akiva ben Yosef
Akiva ben Yosef was a Jewish sage, a principal founder of rabbinic Judaism. He introduced a new method of interpreting Jewish oral law (Halakha), thereby laying the foundation of what was to become the...
al-Ghazālī
Al-Ghazālī was a Muslim theologian and mystic whose great work, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīnIḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (“The Revival of the Religious Sciences”), made Sufism (Islamic mysticism) an acceptable part of orthodox...
Ibn Taymiyyah
Ibn Taymiyyah was one of Islam’s most forceful theologians, who, as a member of the Ḥanbalī school founded by Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, sought the return of the Islamic religion to its sources: the Qurʾān and...
Madhva
Madhva was a Hindu philosopher, exponent of Dvaita (“Dualism”; belief in a basic difference in kind between God and individual souls). His followers are called Madhvas. Madhva was born into a Brahman family....
Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa was an Indian Buddhist scholar, famous for his Visuddhimagga (Pali: “The Path of Purification”), a summary of current Buddhist doctrines. Scholars do not agree about Buddhaghosa’s birthplace,...
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh was an Indian spiritual leader who is revered as the 10th and last of the human Sikh Gurus, known chiefly for his creation of the Khalsa (Punjabi: “the Pure”), a casteless order of Sikhs...
Shoghi Effendi Rabbānī
Shoghi Effendi Rabbānī was the leader of the international Bahāʾī faith, who held the title of Guardian of the Cause of God from 1921 until his death. Shoghi Effendi spent his early childhood in Acre....
Hemachandra
Hemachandra was a teacher of the Shvetambara (“White-Robed”) sect of Jainism who gained privileges for his religion from Siddharaja Jayasimha, one of the greatest kings of Gujarat. Eloquent and erudite,...
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