American Religion Timelines
Prominent Religious Events and People - Biographies By Last Name
| Name | Introduction |
|---|---|
| Allen, Richard | Richard Allen (1760-1831) was an influential black minister who established the first black denomination in the United States. |
| Asbury, Francis | Francis Asbury (1745-1816) was the preeminent leader of American Methodism after the Revolutionary War. |
| Brownson, Orestes | Orestes Brownson (1803-1876) was a public intellectual who defended Catholicism and its compatibility with American society. |
| Burroughs, Nannie Helen | Nannie Helen Burroughs was an educator, missionary leader, writer and pioneer for the rights of African Americans, especially Black women. |
| Carroll, John | John Carroll (1735-1815) served as the first Catholic bishop in the United States and helped expand the Catholic Church domestically. |
| Chavez, Cesar | Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) was a prominent labor leader who fought on behalf of American farm workers. |
| Coughlin, Charles | Charles Coughlin (1891-1979) was a Catholic "radio priest," who was controversial for his anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi views leading up to World War II. |
| Crosby, Frances "Fanny" | Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) wrote thousands of famous hymns, including "Blessed Assurance," "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross," and "To God Be the Glory." |
| Day, Dorothy | Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a Catholic activist, known for co-founding the Catholic Worker movement, leading anti-war and anti-nuclear proliferation movements, and promoting assistance to the poor. |
| Eddy, Mary Baker | Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) founded the Christian Science movement. |
| Edwards, Jonathan | Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is the most influential theologian in American religious history and helped start the First Great Awakening. |
| Emerson, Ralph Waldo | Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) promoted Transcendentalist thought, which emphasized experiencing God through lived experience and intuition. |
| Finney, Charles | Charles Finney (1792-1875) was a prominent evangelical and revivalist during the Second Great Awakening. |
| Fuller, Charles Edward | Charles Fuller (1887-1968) was a prominent evangelist on the popular evangelical radio show "The Old Fashioned Revival Hour" and founded Fuller Theological Seminary. |
| Gibbons, James | James Gibbons (1834-1921) was an American cardinal archbishop who guided the Catholic Church through historic changes and mediated relations between American Catholics and the Vatican. |
| Graham, William "Billy" | Billy Graham (1918-2018) was the preeminent evangelist of the second half of the 20th century, preaching to millions in the United States and abroad. |
| Heschel, Abraham Joshua | Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) was an important Jewish theologian and social activist in the 20th century. |
| Hubbard, L. Ron | L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) founded Scientology, a controversial new religious movement. |
| Hughes, John | John Hughes (1797-1864) was a New York archbishop, who oversaw growth in the American Catholic Church due to Irish immigration and advocated Catholic parochial education. |
| Judson, Adoniram | Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was one of the first American missionaries to travel to Burma, inspiring other Protestants to engage in overseas missionary work. |
| King, Martin Luther | Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was an African-American Baptist minister and civil rights leader who combined Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy and Christian love to fight racism. |
| Koresh, David | David Koresh was leader of the Branch Davidians, a breakaway Seventh-day Adventist group, during the 1993 FBI siege on their compound in Waco, Texas. |
| Merton, Thomas | Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a Catholic monk and prolific writer, who denounced social inequality and opened up interfaith dialogue. |
| Miller, William | William Miller (1782-1849) predicted that the return of Christ would occur in 1843, garnering both religious fervor and criticism. |
| Moody, Dwight L. | Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was a 19th century Protestant revivalist, whose popularity led to the Moody Bible Institute and the growth of fundamentalism. |
| Niebuhr, Reinhold | Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was an influential theologian who advocated social justice and critiqued aspects of theological liberalism. He also is credited with the Serenity Prayer. |
| Ockenga, Harold John | Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) led the new evangelical movement by helping co-found Fuller Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Christianity Today. |
| O'Connor, Flannery | The American writer Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) depicted fictional Southern characters confronting grace in depressing circumstances. |
| of Constantinople, Athenagoras I | Athenagoras (1886-1972) was an important archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America and later served as Patriarch of Constantinople until his death in 1972. |
| Penn, William | William Penn (1644-1718) was a Quaker activist, religious tolerance advocate and founder of the Pennsylvania colony. |
| Rauschenbusch, Walter | Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was the main founding theologian of the Social Gospel. |
| Russell, Charles Taze | Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) sparked the religious tradition later known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. |
| Ryan, John A. | John A. Ryan (1869-1945) was a Catholic priest and moral theologian who fought for economic justice. He helped inspire and support Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs. |
| Schaeffer, Francis | Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was a famous evangelical apologist who denounced the spread of relativism in modern society. |
| Serra, Junipero | Junipero Serra (1713-1784) was a Spanish Franciscan priest who strengthened Spanish control of California and helped bring Catholic faith to the New World. |
| Sheen, Fulton | Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) was a popular Catholic leader, who appeared on popular radio programs ("Catholic Hour") and television programs ("Life is Worth Living"). |
| Smith, Joseph | Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a controversial and influential new religious movement in America. |
| Stanton, Elizabeth Cady | Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was a women’s rights advocate who pioneered feminist theology through her controversial biblical commentary known as the The Woman’s Bible. |
| Sunday, William "Billy" | Billy Sunday (1862-1935) was a prominent evangelist who led revivals, appealed for a prohibition of alcohol, and strengthened conservative Protestantism. |
| Tillich, Paul Johannes | Paul Tillich (1886-1965) was a German American theologian and public intellectual who connected Christian faith to modern culture. |
| VI, Paul | Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) oversaw the completion of the Second Vatican Council and authored Humanae Vitae, an important and controversial document in modern Catholicism. |
| Wesley, Charles | Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was an important leader of the Methodist movement, the younger brother of John Wesley, and an influential hymn writer. |
| Wesley, John | John Wesley (1703-1791) founded the Methodist movement. |
| White, Ellen Gould | Ellen Gould White (1827-1915) was the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She promoted Saturday as the Christian Sabbath and advocated biblically-based health initiatives. |
| White, James Springer | James White (1821-1881) was the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church along with his wife, Ellen Gould White. |
| Whitefield, George | George Whitefield (1714-1770) was the leading preacher and revivalist of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies. |
| Willard, Frances | Frances Willard (1839-1898) was a social activist who promoted temperance, women’s suffrage, labor reform and home-centered family life. |
| Williams, Roger | Roger Williams (1603-1683) was a theologian, advocate for the separation of civil and church authority, and founder of Rhode Island. |
| Winthrop, John | John Winthrop (1588-1649) was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was famous for describing the colony as a "city on a hill." |
| Witherspoon, John | John Witherspoon (1723-1794) was a Presbyterian minister, president of the College of New Jersey, and the only clergy signatory of the Declaration of Independence. |
| X, Malcolm | Malcolm X (1925-1965) was an active minister and spokesman for the Nation of Islam from the mid-1950s until 1964. |
| XXIII, John | Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) called the Second Vatican Council, one of the most significant events in the modern Catholic Church. |
| Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh | Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918-2008) was the founder of Transcendental Meditation and a popular religious figure of the 1960s and 1970s. |
| Young, Brigham | Brigham Young (1801-1877) succeeded Joseph Smith as Mormon president. He led a Mormon exodus to Utah and helped expand the church to 150,000 members. |
