List of children of clergy

List of noted children of clergy is a list concerned with individuals whose status as a child of a cleric is important, preferably critical, to their fame or significance.

Western religions

Christian

Catholic

• George Bariţ – Son of an Eastern-rite Catholic priest who once trained for the priesthood.[1]
• Cesare Borgia
• Lucrezia Borgia
• George Coşbuc – Romanian poet, 14 generations of his family were Eastern-rite priests including his father.[2]
• Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma
• Marcion of Sinope – Son of the Bishop of Sinope, propagator of Marcionism, an early Christian heresy
• Pope Silverius – Legitimate son of a Pope.
• Thomas I of York – Archbishop of York in Catholic era.(Celibacy had become the rule, but was still haphazardly enforced.)

Eastern Orthodox

• Nikolay Bogolyubov – Russian theoretical and mathematical physicist.
• Sergei Bulgakov – Russian theologian. [3]
• Nikolai Chernyshevsky – Socialist thinker, writer, and materialist[4]
• Cyriacus the Anchorite – saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
• Demetri Martin – Comedian, served as an altar boy.[5]
• Slobodan Milosevic
• Ivan Pavlov – Scientist. H. G. Wells's autobiography indicates the Soviets tolerated his continued attendance at the Russian Orthodox Church.   [6]
• George Stephanopoulos Former altar boy.[7]
• Nicola Tesla[8] – In adulthood he retained respect for religion, but described himself as "not a believer in the orthodox sense."[9]
• Theophan the Recluse – A saint in the Russian Orthodox Church[10]
• Yevgeny Zamyatin – He was a Bolshevik who initially supported the October Revolution[11]
• Adrian Zmed – Actor.

Oriental Orthodoxy

• Abraham Kovoor – Skeptic and atheist.[12]

Protestant and Anglican

• Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook - Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.
• John Abernethy (minister)
• Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair – Taught by his minister father and taught for the SPCK for a time.
• Tori Amos – Crucify (song) and "Icicle" deal overtly with the background as do others.[13]
• Garner Ted Armstrong – Son of Herbert W. Armstrong who was disfellowed by him.
• John Ashcroft – Father was an Assemblies of God congregation minister.
• Jane Austen – English novelist; daughter of an Anglican clergyman.
• Robert Baden-Powell, founder of international Scouting movement.
• John Baillie, and brother Donald Macpherson Baillie, were prominent Scottish theologians, a third brother Peter Baillie, was a missionary in India. All were sons of Free Church of Scotland Minister John Baillie.
• Jay Bakker, founder of LGBT-friendly Revolution Church, son of televangelist Jim Bakker and evangelist and TV personality Tammy Faye Messner.
• James Baldwin – Raised by his stepfather who was a preacher and his novel Go Tell it on the Mountain relates to this.
• John Barron (journalist) – Son of a Methodist minister who investigated Communists.[14]
• Robert Hugh Benson – Son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, convert to Catholicism.
• J. D. Beresford – Agnostic, The Hampdenshire Wonder contains an unflattering minister character.
• Ingmar Bergman – Noted atheist, son of a Lutheran minister.
• Crystal Bernard – Actress and singer. Daughter of a Baptist televangelist who traveled across the United States preaching and singing.
• William Henry Bliss – Convert to Catholicism who worked at the Vatican.
• Alex Briley – He got his start singing in church.
• Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë – Sister novelists, daughters of an Anglican vicar.
• Cleanth Brooks – Literary critic who wrote Community, Religion, and Literature: Essays (1995).
• Gordon Brown – Former prime minister of Great Britain, son a of Church of Scotland minister.
• Pearl S. Buck – A child of missionaries with her father being a minister.[15][16]
• Aaron Burr – Vice President of the United States who studied theology at Princeton University and whose father was Reverend Aaron Burr, Sr.[17]
• John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir - Scottish writer, served as Governor General of Canada.
• Jamal Harrison Bryant - Founder/Pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church Baltimore MD,and author of the book "WORLD WAR ME" HOW TO WIN THE WAR I LOST Son of Bishop John Richard Bryant ( Senior Bishop and Presiding Prelate of the Fourth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.)
• Jeremy Camp – Contemporary Christian musician. His father is pastor at Harvest Chapel (a Calvary Chapel church in Lafayette, IN.
• Alexander Campbell (Restoration movement)
• Lois Capps – Attended Pacific Lutheran University and has a Master's in religion.[18]
• Bampfylde Moore Carew – Self-proclaimed king of beggars.[19]
• James Carr – Started his music career in church.[20]
• Francis Pharcellus Church – Author of the New York Sun article, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus;" son of a Baptist Minister [21]
• Grover Cleveland – 22nd and 24th President of the United States. His father was a Presbyterian minister.
• Wayne K. Clymer – Methodist bishop.
• Nat King Cole – singer and jazz pianist, son of a Baptist minister.
• Sheila Schuller Coleman - American educator involved in the operation of Crystal Cathedral, founded by her father Robert H. Schuller.
• Sam Cooke – Gospel and Rhythm & blues.[22]
• Alice Cooper – Born Vincent Furnier, Singer/songwriter and Theatrical Rock Icon, son of a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ
• Stephen Crane – Author of The Red Badge of Courage, son of a Methodist minister.
• Adelaide Crapsey – Daughter of Episcopalian priest Algernon Sidney Crapsey.
• Larry Davis – Baptist minister who had legal difficulties.
• Hugh Dennis – His father, John Dennis, was the Bishop of Saint Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
• Dorothea Dix – Social reformer, daughter of a circuit Methodist minister.[23]
• James Dobson - American author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family, has three generations of Church of the Nazarene ministers as his paternal ancestors.
• Isaak August Dorner – Lutheran churchleader and son of a Lutheran pastor.
• John Foster Dulles – Attended international religious conferences.[24]
• Holly Dunn – "Daddy's Hands" is about her preacher father.[25]
• Jonathan Edwards (the younger) – Son of Jonathan Edwards.[26]
• Jonathan Edwards (theologian) – Son of Timothy Edwards (1668–1759), a minister at East Windsor, Connecticut.
• Monica Edwards – Author whose "Tamzin Grey" character is also a vicar's daughter.[27]
• Leonard K. Elmhirst – Once intended to follow his father into the Church.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson - American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, was the son of an Unitarian minister.
• Gudrun Ensslin – Her father was a pastor in the Evangelical Church in Germany, she became a founder of the Baader-Meinhof Group.
• Johann August Ernesti – Theologian
• Leonhard Euler – Mathematician and strongly religious. His mother also had a pastor for a father.[28]
• Robert Falconer - Canadian academic and 5th President of the University of Toronto.
• Gustav Fechner – Experimental psychologist who wrote on religion or metaphysics.[29]
• Nathan Field – British playwright and actor.
• Mark Few – Head basketball coach at Gonzaga University; married by his father.[30]
• Antony Flew – Noted atheist turned deist.[31]
• Caleb Followill, Jared Followill and Nathan Followill, brothers and members of the band Kings of Leon. Sons of Ivan Leon Followill, a Pentecostal evangelist minister, who traveled around the American South.
• Aretha Franklin – "The Queen of Soul" and daughter of a Baptist minister.
• Rob Frazier – Contemporary Christian music artist.[32]
• Israel Gaither – Father was a Baptist preacher, he is currently the first African American to lead the Salvation Army[33]
• Marvin Gaye – His father and killer was minister Marvin Pentz Gay, Sr. "God is Love", from the album What's Going On, directly relates to Christianity.
• Franklin Graham – Son of Billy Graham
• Alfred Perceval Graves – Son of the bishop of Limerick who did A Celtic Psaltery.[34]
• Kimberly Hahn – Convert to Catholicism.
• Arsenio Hall – Son of Baptist minister.
• Camilla Hall – Early member of the Symbionese Liberation Army killed in a shootout with police.[35]
• W. C. Handy – His father and grandfather were pastors or ministers and it had an effect on his music.[36]
• Neil Hannon – Son of Brian Hannon, a Church of Ireland clergyman who was Bishop of Clogher from 1986 to 2001.
• Ryan Hansen – Says Christian Youth Theater is an important part of his life as is being a pastor's son.[37]
• Nolan Bailey Harmon – Methodist bishop.
• Charles Hartshorne – Philosopher of religion.[38]
• Hampton Hawes – Jazz musician.[39]
• Lee Hays – American folk-singer and songwriter, with The Weavers. Son of William Hays, a Methodist minister, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in society.
• Anne Heche - American actress. Father was a Baptist minister and church organist.[40]
• Chris Hedges – Pulitzer Prize winning journalist with a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. He wrote American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. Father was a Presbyterian minister and anti-war activist.[41]
• Matthew Henry – author of commentaries on the Old and New Testaments
• Archibald Alexander Hodge – Presbyterian theologian and son of Charles Hodge
• Isabella Beecher Hooker – Daughter of Lyman Beecher who became associated to Victoria Woodhull's movement.[42]
• Joel Houston – Son of Brian Houston, Pastor of Hillsong Church. Well known CCM singer and songwriter in the band Hillsong United
• Tim Hughes – Christian music artist.[43]
• Kim Il-sung – Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. His maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister, his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and both his parents were reportedly very active in the religious community.
• S. Clifton Ives – Bishop, son of a pastor.
• Daniel Ernst Jablonski – The son of a Moravian Church minister who tried to unite Lutherans and Calvinists.[44]
• Brandon T. Jackson – American stand-up comedian, actor, and comedian. Both parents are ministers.
• Jesse Jackson, Jr.
• Phil Jackson – Former NBA player and current NBA coach; both parents were Assemblies of God ministers. His older brother Chuck speculated years later that Phil threw himself passionately into sports because it was the only time that their very strict parents allowed Phil and his brothers to do what other children were doing.
• Julian Jaynes - American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), in which he developed the idea of auditory hallucinations as one of the earliest forms of religious experience.
• Jonas Brothers – Pop-rock boy band members, sons of a former Assembly of God minister.
• Bob Jones, Jr.
• Carl Jung, psychiatrist, influential thinker and founder of analytical psychology was the son of pastor in the Swiss Reformed Church.
• k-os – Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His father was a minister at two congregations in the Greater Toronto Area.
• Kenneth Kaunda – First President of Zambia.
• Kelis – American musical artist. Father is a Pentecostal minister.
• Leontine T. C. Kelly – Retired Methodist bishop who won a Thomas Merton Award and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Daughter, sister, widow, mother, and mother-in-law of Methodist ministers.
• Sam Kinison - Comedian/Actor (musician?), son of a Pentecostal Preacher
• Bernice King
• Dexter Scott King
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Martin Luther King III
• Yolanda King
• Walter Russell Lambuth – Missionary and child of missionaries.
• Lemmy – English rock musician and founder of the band Motörhead. His father was a Royal Air Force chaplain.
• Julius Lester – Convert to Judaism.[45]
• Row Lewis – Activist, daughter of a Pentecostal Pastor.[46]
• Eric Liddell – Athlete and missionary.[47]
• Henry Liddell – British scholar and reverend.[48]
• Paper Lions - the Canadian indie rock band includes brothers John and Rob MacPhee, sons of Rev. Roger MacPhee, a Presbyterian minister.
• Charlie Manuel – Current manager of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball. Son of a Pentecostal preacher who committed suicide just before Charlie graduated from high school, which led him to abandon a possible basketball career in favor of professional baseball.
• Roots Manuva – British rapper.
• Andrew Marvell – Poet, wrote poems on metaphysical or spiritual subjects.[49]
• Cotton Mather – American Puritan minister
• Rolf McPherson – His mother was Aimee Semple McPherson.
• George McGovern – American historian and Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election.
• Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany, chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), and a Lutheran pastor's daughter.
• Kelly Minter – Christian singer-songwriter and author.
• Charles Bayard Mitchell – Methodist Bishop
• Ernest John Moeran – English composer, some church music.[50]
• Theodor Mommsen – German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature
• Adolphe Monod – A pastor himself.
• Steve Morse – American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs, and guitarist for Deep Purple since 1994.
• Reinhold Neibuhr and Helmut Richard Neibuhr – Neo-orthodox American Protestant theologians. Sons of a minister in the Evangelical Synod of North America, now the United Church of Christ.
• Friedrich Nietzsche – Noted critic of Christianity who wrote The Antichrist (book).[51]
• Smokie Norful – Minister and gospel singer.[52]
• John Louis Nuelsen – Methodist Bishop.
• Gregory Vaughn Palmer - United Methodist Bishop.
• Katherine Paterson – Children's author, writer of Bridge to Terabithia
• Paige Patterson – Conservative Southern Baptist reformer. [53]
• Sandi Patty – Contemporary Christian music artist. Her father was a minister of music.
• Donny Pauling - American former porn producer, now a Christian speaking publicly about what goes on behind the scenes. His father was a Pentecostal Church of God minister.[[54]]
• Jaroslav Pelikan – Lutheran religious historian who converted to Russian Orthodoxy later in life.[55][56]
• Katy Perry – American pop singer-songwriter, daughter of two pastors.
• Helen Phillips – Most known for opera, but also did interpretations of "Negro spirituals."
• John Piper – American Reformed Baptist preacher and author of 54 books. He coined the term Christian hedonism in his 1986 book Desiring God. [[57]]
• Chonda Pierce – American entertainer and founder of Preacher's Kids International.
• The Pointer Sisters – Daughters of Church of God minister.
• Clark V. Poling – Reformed Church minister of the Four Chaplains, His father was an Evangelical turned Baptist minister.[58]
• Henry Codman Potter – Bishop and son of a bishop.[59]
• Asafa Powell – Track-and-field sprinter. Both his parents are pastors and he plays for a church band.[60][61]
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. – A pastor and politician.
• E. J. Pratt – "The leading Canadian poet of his time." The son of a Methodist minister who studied for the Ministry before pursuing an academic career.
• Katharine Purvis – She wrote "When the saints are Marching in", originally a Christian hymn.[62]
• Bernice Johnson Reagon – Founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock.[63]
• Condoleezza Rice – The United States' 66th Secretary of State, daughter of a Presbyterian minister.
• Bernhard Riemann – Mathematician whose father was a Lutheran pastor, Bernhard also studied theology.[64]
• Clement Daniel Rockey – Methodist bishop.
• Olaus Rudbeck – Son of bishop Johannes Rudbeckius.
• Frank Schaeffer - American author, film director, screenwriter and public speaker. Son of the late theologian, minister and author Francis Schaeffer.
• Gustav Adolf Scheel – Member of Nazi Germany's Schutzstaffel who studied theology.
• Heinrich Schliemann – His minister father was an early influence on his becoming an archaeologist. [65]
• Robert A. Schuller - American televangelist, and author - son of Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller.
• F. R. Scott - Canadian poet, intellectual and constitutional expert. Son of an Anglican priest, he helped found the first Canadian social democratic party.
• George Gilbert Scott – Architect whose designs include churches.[66]
• Rhoda Scott – Jazz musician who became interested in music at her father's church.[67]
• Elias Simojoki – Finnish Fascist clergyman.
• Nina Simone – Her mother was a Methodist minister and as a girl she played at her church.[68]
• Ashlee Simpson – Father was a Baptist minister.
• Jessica Simpson – Father was a Baptist minister.
• Johann Wilhelm Ernst Sommer – Bishop.
• R. C. Sproul, Jr. – son of Presbyterian theologian R. C. Sproul
• Paul Steinitz – Served as a church organist and as a conductor performed St.Matthew Passion.[69]
• Jerome A. Stone - helped develop the religious movement of Religious Naturalism
• Harriet Beecher Stowe – Daughter of Lyman Beecher, and wife of a minister, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Ted Strehlow – Anthropologist son of pastor/missionary Carl Strehlow.[70]
• Emanuel Swedenborg – Father was Jesper Swedberg, priest who became the bishop of Skara.[71]
• Prince Albert Taylor Jr – Bishop.
• William Temple (archbishop) – Archbishop of Canterbury and son of a previous Archbishop of Canterbury.[72]
• David Tennant – Son of Reverend Alexander "Sandy" McDonald, a Church of Scotland minister.
• David Thomas - Canadian comedian and actor, son of John E. Thomas, a pastor and later a professor of philosophy.
• Ian Thomas - Canadian singer, songwriter, actor and author and younger brother to famed comedian and actor Dave Thomas.[[73]]
• Norman Thomas – Socialist, ordained in Presbyterianism as had his father.[74]
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Gospel singer whose mother was an evangelist.
• Paul Tillich - German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher.
• Matthew Tindal – English deist. (Christian deism)
• Tye Tribbett – American gospel music singer, songwriter, keyboardist, choir director.
• Vincent van Gogh, also a missionary himself before becoming an artist. A pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism.
• Jim Wacker – Son of a Lutheran minister who coached at Texas Lutheran University.[75]
• C. F. W. Walther – First President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.[76]
• Rick Warren – Evangelical pastor and best-selling author, son of a Baptist minister.
• John Wesley, Charles Wesley founders of Methodism and Anglican priests were sons of Samuel Wesley, an Anglican priest
• Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette – Theologian and exegete.
• Alfred North Whitehead - English mathematician and philosopher; his Philosophy of Organism gave rise to process theology in which God, as source of the universe, is viewed as growing and changing.
• J. H. C. Whitehead - a British mathematician and one of the founders of homotopy theory.
• Woodrow Wilson – 28th President of the United States. His father was a Presbyterian minister.
• Sir Christopher Wren, one of the greatest English architects of his time. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral.
• Lizz Wright – Contemporary jazz/R&B musician who describes herself as having a gospel music influence.[77]
• Wright brothers – Sons of Milton Wright (Bishop).[78]
• Malcolm X – A convert to Islam whose father is described as "an outspoken Baptist minister."[79]
• Yahweh ben Yahweh – Imprisoned founder of the Nation of Yahweh.[80]
• William P. Young, author of best-selling novel The Shack, child of Canadian missionaries who worked in Dutch New Guinea.[81]
• Denzel Washington, actor. Son of a pentecostal preacher.

Islam (children of Imams, Shaykhs, or Ayatollahs)

• Abdul Majid al-Khoei[82]
• Shareef Abdur-Rahim – Basketball player and son of an imam.[83]
• Amadu Seku – Political leader and son of an Imam.[84]
• Ahmadu Tall – Son of Umar Tall.

Jewish

• Boris Aronson[85]
• Michael Chertoff[86]
• Émile Durkheim – Agnostic sociologist and philosopher who descended from a long line of rabbis.[87]
• Michael Fabricant[88]
• Moshe Feinstein – A noted rabbi himself.[89]
• Alexander D. Goode – Rabbi of the Four Chaplains, his father was also a rabbi.[90]
• Harry Houdini
• Meir Kahane – Rabbi and politician.[91]
• Victor Klemperer – [92]
• Judith Malina[93]
• Michael O. Rabin[94]
• Moses Rosen – Romanian rabbi.
• Erich Segal – Acts of FaithISBN 0-553-56070-0
• Haym Solomon

Eastern religion

Buddhism

• Fumio Niwa – Japanese novelist.[95]
• Kiyoura Keigo – Japanese politician.

Shinto

• Akira Ifukube – Japanese classical composer, son of a Shinto priest.[96]
• Kamo no Mabuchi – Japanese poet.
• Setzuso Kotsuji (son of a prominent Shinto priest, descended from a long-line of well-known priests.) (converted to Orthodox Judaism)

See also

• Preacher's kid