Christian History
Famous Christians in History
The most famous Christians in history include the apostles Peter and Paul; the early church leaders Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo; Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages; the Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin; and later witnesses such as John Wesley, William Wilberforce, C. S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Billy Graham. Each shaped how the church believes, prays or serves, and each pointed beyond themselves to Jesus Christ. Below are honest profiles of nineteen of them, with the hard facts as well as the good.
These are not saints on pedestals but human beings, some of them deeply flawed, whose lives moved the story of the church and whose witness still points to Jesus. We have tried to tell the truth about each of them, the good and the hard, with accurate dates and real works. Follow any name to read the fuller story.
Who are the most famous Christians in history?
Here are the nineteen profiled on this page at a glance, in the order they were born. Each name opens a full profile.
| Name | Lived | Why they matter |
|---|---|---|
| Athanasius of Alexandria | c. 296 to 373 | Defended the full deity of Christ against Arianism and, in 367, first listed exactly the 27 New Testament books. |
| Augustine of Hippo | 354 to 430 | His Confessions and The City of God shaped Western theology on grace, sin and the church for a thousand years. |
| Patrick of Ireland | Fifth century | A former slave who returned to Ireland as a missionary and planted the faith across the island. |
| Francis of Assisi | c. 1181 to 1226 | Gave up wealth to live in poverty and joy, and founded the Franciscan order. |
| Thomas Aquinas | 1225 to 1274 | His Summa Theologiae joined faith and reason and remains a summit of Christian thought. |
| Martin Luther | 1483 to 1546 | His Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 began the Protestant Reformation; he translated the Bible into German. |
| John Calvin | 1509 to 1564 | Wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion and shaped the Reformed and Presbyterian churches. |
| Teresa of Avila | 1515 to 1582 | A Carmelite reformer whose writings on prayer, such as The Interior Castle, are still read worldwide. |
| Jonathan Edwards | 1703 to 1758 | Theologian and preacher of the First Great Awakening in colonial America. |
| John Wesley | 1703 to 1791 | Evangelist and founder of the Methodist movement, preaching across Britain for over fifty years. |
| William Wilberforce | 1759 to 1833 | Led the parliamentary campaign that abolished the British slave trade in 1807. |
| George Muller | 1805 to 1898 | Cared for thousands of orphans in Bristol, asking God alone for every need. |
| Fanny Crosby | 1820 to 1915 | Blind from infancy, she wrote thousands of hymns, among them Blessed Assurance. |
| Hudson Taylor | 1832 to 1905 | Founded the China Inland Mission and gave over fifty years to bringing the gospel to inland China. |
| Charles Spurgeon | 1834 to 1892 | The Prince of Preachers, whose London sermons were printed and read around the world. |
| Corrie ten Boom | 1892 to 1983 | Hid Jews from the Nazis, survived Ravensbrück, and spent her life teaching forgiveness. |
| C. S. Lewis | 1898 to 1963 | A former atheist who wrote Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia. |
| Dietrich Bonhoeffer | 1906 to 1945 | Pastor and theologian who resisted Hitler, wrote The Cost of Discipleship, and was executed in 1945. |
| Billy Graham | 1918 to 2018 | The best known evangelist of the twentieth century, preaching in person to millions on six continents. |
Who are the most important figures in Christianity?
The most important figure in Christianity is not a follower but the one followed: Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians confess as the Son of God, crucified and risen. Every other name on this page matters only because of him. After Jesus, the apostles stand first, above all Peter, the leader of the twelve, and Paul, whose letters make up much of the New Testament.
Beyond the Bible, historians usually measure importance by lasting influence on what Christians believe and how they live. By that measure a few names recur in almost every account: Athanasius and Augustine for doctrine, Benedict and Francis for the life of prayer and poverty, Aquinas for theology and reason, Luther and Calvin for the Reformation, Wesley for revival, Carey and Hudson Taylor for world mission, and in the twentieth century C. S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer and Billy Graham. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians would each add names of their own, and that is as it should be: the church is larger than any one list.
Famous Christian leaders by era
Christian history is easier to hold in mind as a story in chapters. For the events behind these lives, walk through the church history timeline, from Pentecost to today.
The early church
The first centuries after the apostles, when the church survived persecution, confessed the deity of Christ, and carried the gospel to the edges of the Roman world and beyond.
The medieval church
A thousand years in which monasteries kept learning alive, universities were born, and renewal movements called the church back to the poverty and love of Christ.
The Reformation
The sixteenth century protest that called the church back to Scripture and to grace received by faith, and divided Western Christianity.
The Reformation era
The same century renewed Catholic life as well, through reformers of prayer and of the religious orders.
Revival and awakening
The eighteenth century revivals in Britain and America that preached the new birth to ordinary people in fields, towns and colonies.
Faith and reform
Christians whose faith drove public change and whose preaching reached across the English speaking world.
Modern witnesses
Twentieth century believers who wrote, preached and suffered for Christ in an age of world wars and unbelief.
Faith and mission
The nineteenth century missionaries, carers and hymn writers who trusted God for daily needs and carried the gospel far from home.
Other famous Christians the church remembers
No list of nineteen can hold two thousand years. These figures are widely remembered too, and are not yet profiled here:
- Paul the apostle (died c. 64 to 67): Apostle to the Gentiles; thirteen New Testament letters bear his name.
- Peter the apostle (died c. 64 to 68): Leader of the twelve apostles and the first preacher at Pentecost.
- Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69 to c. 155): Bishop and martyr, remembered as a disciple of the apostle John.
- Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130 to c. 202): Defended the apostolic faith and the four Gospels against Gnosticism.
- John Chrysostom (c. 347 to 407): Archbishop of Constantinople and the greatest preacher of the early Greek church.
- Jerome (c. 347 to 420): Translated the Bible into Latin; his Vulgate served the Western church for a thousand years.
- Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 to c. 547): His Rule shaped monastic life in the West.
- John Wycliffe (c. 1330 to 1384): Inspired the first complete Bible in English.
- Jan Hus (c. 1372 to 1415): Czech reformer burned at the stake a century before Luther.
- William Tyndale (c. 1494 to 1536): Translated the New Testament into English from the Greek and was executed for it.
- John Bunyan (1628 to 1688): Wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, begun while imprisoned for preaching.
- George Whitefield (1714 to 1770): Open air preacher of the Great Awakening on both sides of the Atlantic.
- William Carey (1761 to 1834): Baptist missionary to India, often called the father of modern missions.
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 to 1968): Baptist minister who led the American civil rights movement.
Who are the religious leaders of Christianity?
Christianity has no founder other than Jesus Christ himself, whom Christians confess as Lord and the head of the church. After him the first leaders were the twelve apostles, with Peter and Paul the best known. Since then leadership has taken different shapes in different traditions:
- Catholic Church: the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, with bishops, priests and deacons.
- Eastern Orthodox churches: patriarchs and bishops meeting in councils, with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople honored as first among equals.
- Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches: bishops or superintendents alongside clergy and lay leaders.
- Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian and independent churches: pastors, elders and deacons, often chosen by the local congregation.
The famous names on this page were rarely the official heads of anything. Most were pastors, monks, nuns, teachers, missionaries or ordinary believers whose faithfulness moved the whole church. That is the pattern Jesus set when he washed his disciples' feet (John 13).
Where to go next
Read the last words of the faithful, the final sayings of believers facing death; the stories behind the great hymns, some written by people on this page, in the hymns and their stories; how the faith travelled in how Christianity spread; the councils that confessed the deity of Christ in the age of the councils and the Nicene Creed; and the people who study Scripture today in Christian scholars and theologians.
Frequently asked questions
- Who are the most famous Christians in history?
- After Jesus Christ himself and the apostles Peter and Paul, the most famous Christians in history include Athanasius, Augustine of Hippo, Patrick of Ireland, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, William Wilberforce, C. S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Billy Graham.
- Who are the most important figures in Christian history?
- Among the most influential are Augustine of Hippo, Athanasius, Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, C. S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Billy Graham, spanning the early church through the modern age.
- Who is the most famous Christian of all?
- Christianity is centered on Jesus Christ, not on any follower of his. Among his followers, the apostle Paul has probably had the greatest influence: thirteen of the twenty seven New Testament books bear his name, and his letters are the earliest Christian writings that survive.
- Who are the religious leaders of Christianity?
- Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and the apostles were its first leaders. Today leadership differs by tradition: the Pope and bishops in the Catholic Church, patriarchs and bishops in the Orthodox churches, and pastors, elders and deacons in most Protestant churches.
- Are these Christian figures presented honestly?
- Yes. These profiles state the facts, including the difficult ones, such as Luther's later antisemitic writings, Calvin's part in the execution of Servetus, and Edwards owning enslaved people, alongside the good, with accurate dates and works.
- What do these historical Christians have in common?
- Across very different centuries and cultures, each pointed beyond himself or herself to Jesus Christ. Their lives and writings are gateways to the person at the center of the Christian faith.
Sources: dates and works follow the standard references, chiefly Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Where a date is uncertain it is marked c.
Where their witness leads
Every one of them would not want to be the last word. Every one of these people said, in the end, the same thing: do not look finally at me, but at the Christ I followed and pointed to. They are worth reading, and they are honest about their own failures. The living Jesus they trusted is still near to anyone who comes to him with an open heart, and meeting him yourself costs nothing but a little quiet and an honest look. The Gospel of John is a gentle place to begin.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnThe story of the churchJesus Christ is Lord.
