Top Americans

Christian Century, Jan 9, 2007

TOP AMERICANS: Atlantic magazine compiled a list the 100 most influential persons in American history by asking 10 historians to create their own list. Predictably, the top five in the list were Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alexander Hamilton. Only one historian of religion was included in the selection process--Mark Noll, professor at Notre Dame.

And although many of the top 100 leaders were deeply religious, only six religious leaders made the cut: Martin Luther King Jr. (no. 8), Joseph Smith (no. 52), Brigham Young (no. 74), Mary Baker Eddy (no. 86), Jonathan Edwards (no. 90) and Lyman Beecher (no. 91). It may be quintessentially American that three of these six (Smith, Young and Eddy) either founded or helped found a new religion (Boston Globe, December).