What Christian thinker has influenced you the most?

[Matthias]

A simple question from my X / Twitter “For you” feed this afternoon -

“What Christian thinker has influenced you the most?”

Pastor Rich Bitterman (@w_bitterman) on X

What Christian thinker has influenced you the most?

x.com

 

[TitusTwoWife]

Other than my husband, C.S Lewis.

 

[shepherdsword]

Francis Schaeffer more than likely. Although if we are talking about someone other than Jesus Christ I would say the apostle Paul

 

[Matthias]

There are four US Presidents carved on Mount Rushmore. Meaning no disrespect to them, if I were to replace them with four Christian thinkers who have influenced me the most ...

Tertullian, C.H. Spurgeon, Raymond E. Brown, and James D.G. Dunn.

 

[Lambano]

Just looking at whose names are on my bookshelves, C.S. Lewis, N.T. Wright, Steve Brown. Throw in John Barclay to make it a foursome. (Do they all count as "thinkers"?)

Might've added John MacArthur, but I got disillusioned with him as he seemed to lose his love as he grew older.

 

[ScottA]

Pastor Billy Rieder influenced me to leave (claimed that his seminary teaching was more true than the Bible). So I (we) did.

 

[Anchorite]

Charles Finney

TL Osborn

Andrew Murray

Tito Colliander (book The Way of the Ascetics)

EW Kenyon

Billy Graham

Erwin Lutzer

 

[RandyDawson]

“What Christian thinker has influenced you the most?”

Jesus, Who is The Christ!

 

[RandyDawson]

Francis Schaeffer more than likely. Although if we are talking about someone other than Jesus Christ I would say the apostle Paul

Are you arminian?
I just saw this after serching on Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer expressed antipathy towards calvinism, particularly its deterministic views, and often emphasized the importance of human freedom in his teachings. While he initially identified with some calvinist ideas, his later works suggest a shift towards a more arminian perspective, focusing on free will and personal choice.

 

[Matthias]

Jesus, Who is The Christ!

Jesus, the Christ (or Messiah), is a Jew. (As are the apostles.) What does that infer?

 

[RandyDawson]

Jesus, the Christ (or Messiah), is a Jew. (As are the apostles.) What does that infer?

Jesus Christ is the only Christian thinker that has influenced me!
When I was a young believer there were a few preachers that influenced me for a while to not believe everything the Lord teaches in His book but the Holy Spirit the Lord gave me to be my teacher let me know these men were actually working for the devil. They were wolves in sheep's clothing.

Surely you don't claim someone other than Jesus Christ has influence you more that Jesus do you?

 

[Matthias]

Jesus Christ is the only Christian thinker that has influenced me!
When I was a young believer there were a few preachers that influenced me for a while to not believe everything the Lord teaches in His book but the Holy Spirit the Lord gave me to be my teacher let me know these men were actually working for the devil. They were wolves in sheep's clothing.

Surely you don't claim someone other than Jesus Christ has influence you more that Jesus do you?

No.

 

[Matthias]

Jesus, the Christ (or Messiah), is a Jew. (As are the apostles.) What does that infer?

The inference: Christianity began as a unique sect of Judaism, founded by Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, Son of the living God.

 

[Matthias]

What Jewish thinker has influenced you the most? Jesus of Nazareth.

 

[CoachedByChrist]

Dr. Charles Stanley belongs on this list. His steady, verse by verse teaching made God's will feel knowable instead of mysterious, and his seven questions for testing a decision still guard major choices today. Clear principles, calmly taught, tend to outlast louder voices. Grateful for teachers who point people back to Scripture.

 

[Lambano]

View attachment 92210

The inference: Christianity began as a unique sect of Judaism, founded by Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, Son of the living God.

Dr. Eisenbaum (who is Jewish) asserts that Paul was thoroughly Jewish, believed in a Jewish Messiah, and saw himself as an ambassador to the Gentiles to bring them into Covenant with the Jewish God as prophesied in the Jewish scriptures. I'm not sure I agree with her, but I found her work intriguing and an interesting spin off the "New Perspective on Paul" theologians like NT Wright, Richard Hays, JDG Dunn, and Krister Stendahl (but not yet Ed Sanders). I also like the provocative title.

Perhaps I should've introduced this one in the (thoroughly ridiculous) thread about Christianity not being derived from Judaism.