Jesus – The Most Influential Person in History - Bible Apologetics

In December 1999 the cable TV network A&E aired a series called, Biography of the Millennium: 100 People-1000 Years. In the series many famous scholars, politicians and theologians were interviewed in an attempt to identify those individuals who most impacted our world, for better or worse, from 1000 AD to 2000 AD. Their pick for the most influential person was a German inventor, who invented the movable type printing press – Johann Gutenberg.

But when it comes to identifying the most influential person of all time, the consensus is clear that Jesus Christ stands alone in this category. May the following quotes from well-known authors, politicians, historians, religious scholars, and newspaper editors serve to support this claim:

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”1 – H. G. Wells

“Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.”2 – Philip Schaff

“I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history.”3 – George Bancroft

“All history is incomprehensible without Christ.”4 – Ernest Renan

“Just now, take a few minutes to read what others have said about Him – the most amazing Man in all recorded time. They want to introduce you to the only Man in history who can radically lift you – and change you – for the better.”5 – Vance Ferrell

“Will Jesus ever be surpassed? Nineteen hundred years have passed, and his equal has not risen. This is not true of the world’s other great ones. Every generation produces geniuses worthy to be compared with those who have gone before. It can be said of no one man, ‘He stands alone; he has no rival; no equal; no superior.’ But this is true of Jesus. Nineteen hundred years, instead of diminishing His greatness, have accentuated it.”6 – Editor, The Los Angeles Times

“Christ is the great central fact of the world’s history. To him everything looks forward or backward. All lines of history converge upon him. All the great purposes of God culminate in him. The greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world records is the fact of his birth.”7 – Charles H. Spurgeon

“The greatest personality in human history is Jesus. We shall never escape from war but by following His teaching.”8 – Henry Morgenthau

“It would require much exotic calculation…to deny that the single most powerful figure – not merely in these two millennium but in all human history – has been Jesus of Nazareth.”9 – Reynolds Price

“Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of Nazareth.”10 – H. G. Wells

“By any secular standard, Jesus is also the dominant figure of Western culture. Like the millennium itself, much of what we now think of as Western ideas, inventions, and values finds its source or inspiration in the religion that worships God in his name. Art and science, the self and society, politics and economics, marriage and the family, right and wrong, body and soul – all have been touched and often radically transformed by the Christian influence.”11 – Kenneth L. Woodward

“It is interesting and significant that a historian, without any theological bias whatever, should find that he cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to a penniless teacher from Nazareth. A historian like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man.”12 – H. G. Wells

“Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for another 40; Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ’s three year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who are regarded as the greatest philosophers of all time.”13 – Unknown

“Jesus Christ is to me the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive. There is no easy middle ground to stroll upon. You either accept Jesus or reject him.”14 – Sholem Asch

“As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.”15 – Kenneth Scott Latourette

“The name of Jesus is not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world.”16 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 H.G. Wells on the Historicity of Jesus – Apologetics315

2 Quote by Philip Schaff: “Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conq…” (goodreads.com)

3 Quotes: Jesus’ Influence On History | Glenarm Baptist Church

4 Ernest Renan – All history is incomprehensible without… (brainyquote.com)

5 Tract 13a – The Most Amazing Man in History (champs-of-truth.com)

6 Tract 13a – The Most Amazing Man in History (champs-of-truth.com)

7 Jesus, Most Influential Life of All Time – Lifeword Media Ministry | Lifeword Media Ministry

8 Quotes: Jesus’ Influence On History | Glenarm Baptist Church

9 About The Reality Of Jesus Christ (thinkcubed.info)

10 The Most Unique Person – Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove

11 About The Reality Of Jesus Christ (thinkcubed.info)