List of Catholic philosophers and theologians

This is a list of Catholic philosophers and theologians whose Catholicism is important to their works. The names are ordered by date of birth in order to give a rough sense of influence between thinkers.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Patristic Philosophers (1st-6th centuries)

• Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35/50 – between 98 and 110)
• Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60 – c. 163)
• Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69 – c. 155)
• Justin Martyr (100–165)
• Irenaeus (130–202)
• Clement of Rome (died 99)
• Clement of Alexandria (150–215)
• Tertullian (155–222)
• Origen of Alexandria (184–253)
• Cyprian of Carthage (200–258)
• Aphrahat (270–345)
• Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373)
• Hillary of Poitiers (300–368)
• Ephrem the Syrian (306–373)
• Basil of Caesarea (329–379)
• Gregory Nazianzus (329–390)
• Gregory of Nyssa (335–395)
• Ambrose (340–397)
• Jerome (347–420)
• John Chrysostom (347–407)
• Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
• Cyril of Alexandria (378–444)
• Isaac of Antioch (451–452)
• Boethius (477–524)

Early Medieval Philosophers (7th-10th centuries)

Gregory the Great

• Pope Gregory I (540–604)
• Isadore of Seville (560–636)
• Maximus the Confessor (580–662)
• Bede (672/3–735)
• John of Damascus (675/6–749)
• Radbertus (785–865)
• John Scotus Eriugena (800–877)

Scholastic philosophers (11th-14th centuries)

Anselm

Thomas Aquinas

• Anselm of Canterbury (1033/4–1109)
• Peter Abelard (1079–1142)
• Adelard of Bath (1080–1152)
• Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)
• Hugh of Saint Victor (1096–1141)
• Peter Lombard (1096–1160)
• Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)
• Héloïse (1100/1–1163/4)
• John of Salisbury (c. 1110–1180)
• Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253)
• Francis of Assisi (1181/2–1226)
• Alexander of Hales (1185–1245)
• Albertus Magnus (1193–1280)
• Henry of Ghent (1217–1293)
• Roger Bacon (1219/20–1292)
• Bonaventure (1221–1274)
• Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)
• Ramon Llull (1232–1315)
• Giles of Rome (1243–1316)
• Godfrey of Fontaines (1250–1306/9)
• James of Viterbo (1255–1307)
• Gertrude of Helfta (1256–1302)
• Meister Eckhart (1260–1328)
• Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
• John Duns Scotus (1266–1308)
• William of Alnwick (1275–1333)
• William of Ockham (1287–1347)
• William of Ware (1290–1305)
• Henry Suso (1295–1366)
• Jean Buridan (1300–1358/61)
• Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373)
• Albert of Saxony (1320–1390)
• Nicole Oresme (1325–1382)
• Catherine of Siena (1347–1380)
• Jean Gerson (1363–1429)
• John Capreolus (1380–1444)

Renaissance and Counter Reformation Philosophers (15th-17th centuries)

Erasmus

René Descartes

• Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464)
• Sylvester Mazzolini (1456/7–1527)
• Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494)
• Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536)
• John Mair (1467–1550)
• Thomas Cajetan (1469–1534)
• Francesco Silvestri (1474–1528)
• Thomas More (1478–1535)
• John Fisher (1469–1535)
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
• Francisco de Vitoria (1483–1546)
• Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)
• Peter Faber (1506–1546)
• Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)
• Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
• Domingo Báñez (1528–1604)
• Franciscus Patricius (1529–1597)
• Luis de Molina (1535–1600)
• John of the Cross (1542–1591)
• Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621)
• Justus Lipsius (1547–1606)
• Francisco Suárez (1548–1617)
• Lawrence of Brindisi (1559–1619)
• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
• Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
• Péter Pázmány (1570–1637)
• John of St. Thomas (John Poinsot) (1589–1644)
• Michael Wadding (1591–1644)
• René Descartes (1596–1650)
• Matthias Tanner (1630–1692)
• Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715)
• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
• Noel Alexandre (1639–1724)

Colonial Era Philosophers (18th-19th centuries)

Portrait of Newman by John Everett Millais, 1881

Max Scheler

Stein in 1938 or 1939

• Giambattista Vico (1668–1744)
• Giovanni Battista Scaramelli (1687–1752)
• Peter Dens (1690–1775)
• Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787)
• Febronius (Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim) (1701–1790)
• Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (1714–1795)
• Patrick Benedict Zimmer (1752–1820)
• Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821)
• Franz Xaver von Baader (1765–1841)
• Georg Hermes (1775–1831)
• Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais (1782–1854)
• Anton Günther(1783–1863)
• Izidor Guzmics (1786–1839)
• Gioacchino Ventura di Raulica (1792–1861)
• Luigi Taparelli (1793–1862)
• Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (1797–1855)
• Francis Xavier Patrizi (1797–1881)
• Franz Anton Staudenmaier (1800–1856)
• John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
• Nicholas Wiseman (1802–1865)
• Félix Dupanloup (1802–1878)
• Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (1802–1861)
• Orestes Brownson (1803–1876)
• Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
• Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry (1805–1872)
• Giuseppe Pecci (1807–1890)
• Karl Josef von Hefele (1809–1893)
• Jaime Balmes (1810–1848)
• Pope Leo XIII (Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci) (1810–1903)
• Joseph Kleutgen (1811–1883)
• Louis Veuillot (1813–1883)
• Frederick William Faber (1814–1863)
• Franz Jakob Clemens (1815–1862)
• Valentin Gröne (1817–1882)
• John Dobree Dalgairns (1818–1876)
• Gregor Mendel (1822–1884)
• Augusta Theodosia Drane (1823–1894)
• Nicholas-Joseph Laforêt (1823–1872)
• Albert Stöckl (1823–1895)
• Joseph Hergenröther (1824–1890)
• Charles Émile Freppel (1827–1891)
• Constantine von Schäzler (1827–1880)
• Ernest Hello (1828–1885)
• Henry Nutcombe Oxenham (1829–1888)
• Tommaso Maria Zigliara (1833–1893)
• Franz Brentano (1838–1917)
• Léon Ollé-Laprune (1839–1898)
• Caspar Isenkrahe (1844–1921)
• Henry Denifle (1844–1905)
• Aloisio Galea (1851–1905)
• Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (1856–1912)
• Maurice Blondel (1861–1949)
• Antonin Sertillanges (1863–1948)
• Henri Brémond (1865–1933)
• Maurice De Wulf (1867–1947)
• Paul Claudel (1868–1955)
• Aleš Ušeničnik (1868–1952)
• Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)
• Charles Peguy (1873–1914)
• G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936)
• Max Scheler (1874–1928)
• Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964)
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955)
• Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)
• Rudolf Allers (1883–1963)
• Étienne Gilson (1884–1978)
• Romano Guardini (1885–1968)
• Ronald Knox (1888–1957)
• Erich Przywara (1889–1972)
• Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973)
• Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
• Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977)
• Oswald von Nell-Breuning (1890–1991)
• Charles Journet (1891–1975)
• Edith Stein (1891–1942)
• Fulton Sheen (1895–1979)
• Henri de Lubac (1896–1991)
• Xavier Zubiri (1898–1983)
• Austin Woodbury (1899–1979)
• František Tomášek (1899–1992)

Modern Philosophers (20th century to present)

Mortimer J. Adler

Joseph Ratzinger

Alasdair MacIntyre in 2009

• Heinrich Schlier (1900–1978)
• Jean Guitton (1901–1999)
• Mortimer Jerome Adler, converted to Catholicism in 2000 (1902–2001)
• Christopher Butler (1902–1986)
• Józef Maria Bocheński (1902–1995)
• Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990)
• Yves Simon (1903–1961)
• Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
• Graham Greene (1904–1991)
• Josef Pieper (1904–1997)
• John Courtney Murray (1904–1967)
• Karl Rahner (1904–1984)
• Yves Congar (1904–1995)
• Osvaldo Lira (1904–1996)
• Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984)
• Jean Danielou (1905–1974)
• Emmanuel Mounier (1905–1950)
• Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988)
• Friedrich-Carl Henckel von Donnersmarck (1905–1989)
• Charles De Koninck (1906–1965)
• Frederick Copleston (1907–1994)
• Bernard Philip Kelly (1907–1958)
• Bernard O'Brien (1907–1982)
• Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
• Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (1908–1995)
• Hélder Câmara (1909–1999)
• Augusto Del Noce (1910–1989)
• Cornelio Fabro (1911–1995)
• Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
• E. F. Schumacher (1911–1977)
• Anna Terruwe (1911–2004)
• George Duggan (1912–2012)
• Karel Vladimir Truhlar (1912–1977)
• Walter J. Ong (1912–2003)
• Louis Bouyer (1913–2004)
• Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994)
• R. C. Zaehner (1913–1974)
• Edward Schillebeeckx (1914–2009)
• John Hardon (1914–2000)
• Thomas Berry (1914–2009)
• W. Norris Clarke (1915–2008)
• Thomas Merton (1915–1968)
• Vincent Miceli (1915–1991)
• Peter Geach (1916–2013)
• Walker Percy (1916–1990)
• Avery Dulles (1918–2008)
• G. E. M. Anscombe (1919–2001)
• Conrad Baars (1919–1981)
• Emerich Coreth (1919–2006)
• Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) (1920–2005)
• Joseph Fitzmyer (1920–2016)
• Catharina Halkes (1920–2011)
• Milan Komar (1921–2006)
• Thomas Molnar (1921–2010)
• Xavier Tilliette (1921–2018)
• Leslie Dewart (1922–2009)
• Jean Delumeau (1923–2020)
• Jacques Dupuis (1923–2004)
• Ernest Fortin (1923–2002)
• Vekoslav Grmič (1923–2005)
• René Girard (1923–2015)
• Gregory Baum (1923–2017)
• Alice von Hildebrand (1923–2022)
• Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)
• Michael Dummett (1925–2011)
• Louis Dupre (1925–2022)
• Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
• Servais Pinckaers (1925–2008)
• Juan Luis Segundo (1925–1996)
• Ivan Illich (1926–2002)
• Robert Bork (1927–2012)
• Robert Spaemann (1927–2018)
• Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) (1927–2022)
• Raymond E. Brown (1928–1998)
• Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928–)
• Hans Kung (1928–2021)
• William E. May (1928–2014)
• Jean Vanier (1928–2019)
• Nicholas Rescher (1928–)
• James V. Schall (1928–2019)
• Ralph McInerny (1929–2010)
• Alasdair MacIntyre (1929–)
• Germain Grisez (1929–2018)
• Ignacio Ellacuría (1930–1989)
• Joseph A. Bracken (1930–)
• C. J. F. Williams (1930–1997)
• Charles Taylor (1931–)
• Fergus Kerr (1931–)
• Ferdinand Ulrich (1931–2020)
• Joseph de Torre (1932–2018)
• Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)
• Walter Kasper (1933–)
• Joan Chittister (1936–)
• Michal Heller (1936–)
• John Rist (1936–)
• Richard John Neuhaus (1936–2009)
• Antonin Scalia (1936–2016)
• Peter Kreeft (1937–)
• Leonardo Boff (1938–)
• Jon Sobrino (1938–)
• Mariano Artigas (1938–2006)
• Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (1938–)
• David Tracy (1939–)
• Joseph A. Komonchak (1939–)
• John Finnis (1940–)
• Bas van Fraassen (1941–)
• Angelo Scola (1941–)
• Elizabeth A. Johnson (1941–)
• John P. Meier (1942–)
• Jacek Salij (1942–)
• Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz (1943–2012)
• Jean-Luc Marion (1946–)
• Thomas Weinandy (1946–)
• Chantal Delsol (1947–)
• Olavo de Carvalho (1947–2022)
• Eleonore Stump (1947–)
• Mary Shawn Copeland (1947–)
• Tomáš Halík (1948–)
• Aidan Nichols (1948–)
• Martin Rhonheimer (1950–)
• William Desmond (1951–)
• Jay Budziszewski (1952–)
• Cyril O'Regan (1952–)
• Catherine LaCugna (1952–1997)
• John Joseph Haldane (1954–)
• Tina Beattie (1955–)
• Robert P. George (1955–)
• William Sweet (1955–)
• Marie-Jo Thiel ((1957–)
• Gavin D'Costa (1958–)
• Robert Barron (1959–)
• Byung-Chul Han (1959–)
• Yves-Marie Adeline (1960–)
• David Oderberg (1963–)
• Helen Alford (1964–)
• Hector Zagal (1966–)
• Józef Stala (1966–)
• Denis Moreau (1967–)
• Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator (1967)
• Edward Feser (1968–)
• Ulrich L. Lehner (1976–)

See also

• List of Catholic authors
• Doctors of the Church

References

• The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, (Second Edition). Cambridge University Press; 1999. ISBN 0-521-63722-8
• Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Second Edition). Martin Gale; 2006. ISBN 0-02-865780-2
• The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press; 1995. ISBN 0-19-866132-0
• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge; 1998. ISBN 978-0-415-07310-3
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. January 16, 2010