The 25 Most Influential Foreign-Born Religious Figures in American History

America tends to import its key religious figures. That was the lesson I learned while trying to compile a last week’s list of most influential native-born religious figures .

Many readers grumbled that the arbitrary criteria excluded some of the most important men and women in America’s religious history. They were right. With their help I’ve created a second list of foreign-born leaders who have the most impact on our country religious landscape.

Here is the list of 25 most influential foreign-born religious figures:

1. Abraham Rice – first ordained rabbi to serve in a rabbinical position in the United States

2. Aimee Semple McPherson – founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

3. Alexis Toth – Russian Orthodox church leader in the American Midwest

4. Alexander Campbell – an early leader in the Second Great Awakening

5. Charles Wesley – co-founder of the Methodist movement

6. Cornelius Van Til – Christian philosopher and apologist

7. Francis Asbury – one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church

8. Frances Xavier Cabrini – first American citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church

9. George Whitefield – evangelist during the Great Awakening

10. Isaac Backus – Baptist preacher during the era of the American Revolution who campaigned against state-established churches in New England

11. Isaac Mayer Wise – founder of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College, the first Jewish college in America to train rabbis

12. John Hughes – first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York

13. John Murray – founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States

14. John Neumann – first American bishop to be canonized

15. John Wesley – co-founder of the Methodist movement

16. John Winthrop – early Puritan leader, famous for his “City upon a Hill” sermon

17. Joseph Soloveitchik – Talmudic scholar and seminal figure by Modern Orthodox Judaism

18. Junipero Serra – Catalan Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in present day California

19. Paul Tillich – theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher

20. Peter Maurin – founder of the Catholic Worker Movement

21. Michael Wyschogrod – Jewish theologian associated with the Modern Orthodox movement

22. Roger Williams – first American proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state

23. Solomon Schechter – founder and President of the United Synagogue of America

24. Thomas Merton – Trappist monk and social activist

25. William Booth – founder of the Salvation Army