I anoint thee, oh Historic One!
<SLAPS Revenant Threshold with a Wet Trout>
~~Mark Twain
Jesus, because without Him we’d all have an irrevocable death sentence hanging over our heads, not to mention a severely limited future.
Among lesser mortals, I rather like Gandhi. Da Vinci sure is interesting though.
Jesse.
Name one event in history that was changed because a person had life after death.
Umm… 500 people were resurrected from the dead and seen by thousands, the writings of some of whom we still have today.
Thomas learned not to doubt.
The Apostle Paul (a favorite here) was halted by Jesus and commissioned to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles/nations, and who said 'If in this life only I have hoped, I am of all men most to be pitied.'
One third of the population of the Earth now believes in and on Jesus Christ.
I believe, you don’t, and thus we have something to talk about. 
The Roman Empire changed its point of view- abruptly!
We got to have the Crusades - and loads of movies about them.
And… oh, sorry, you only wanted one.
Love - Jesse.
How about George Washington? It’s impossible to say for certain, but without him, the American Revolution might have either been put down by the British, or America might have become a tyranny, either of which would dramatically change the shape of the modern world.
I really don’t think this question has an answer (or any reasonable amount of answers), though. Too many people have had a great influence over history, and no one can say whether someone would have taken their places or who it might have been.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
Great question. Unanswerable, I think, if to agree on one. Obviously Alexander had a HUGE impact on culture. Leonardo’s inventions, along with his delving in anatomy, make him a viable answer. I also like Gutenberg, and Pasteur, but as someone said, a particular invention or discovery probably would have been made by someone else if not them. Euclid and Newton probably rise above that. But if I remember correctly what I read in Ron Chernow’s book on Rockerfeller, something like 80% of the world’s medical advancements can be linked back to the foundations he funded. Pretty impressive. Which, I guess, brings to mind the person responsible for the computer. Babbage? Or maybe Gates.
Taking that all in, if I had to choose one I’d probably say Alexander. Or not.
Nah, it’s Jesus of Nazareth.
Galileo Galilei for proposing the Earth rotated around the Sun comes to mind.
Maybe not. Western Europeans were trying to find a route to sail directly to Asia for strictly commercial reasons. The primary plan was to sail south around Africa and most of the money went for voyages south. Columbus represented the minority view that ships could successfully sail west across the ocean to Asia. There were flaws with Columbus’ reasoning but Spain eventually decided to risk some money to fund a trip in 1492.
Then in 1499, Vasco da Gama returned. He had finally made the trip around the Cape of Good Hope and proven you could sail around Africa to Asia.
So if Columbus had been delayed a few more years or some other captain heading south had been a little braver earlier, the African route would have been discovered before the western route. And once the African route was proven there was no incentive to explore other routes, especially ones that were less promising. It might have been decades before any expeditions tried to cross the ocean.
Huh??? 
Don’t think so. The printing press would have been improved around the same time without him.
kinda pitiful to have (at most) one third of your pets pretend to acknowledge that you exist.
I too would pick a religious leader. And probably Mohamed for the reasons exposed by ** RickJay **
I would pick figures farther back in history.
I vote for the person who invented the wheel, since it may have been invented only once.
Or maybe someone in the Socrates-Plato-Aristotle line. Plato has had the largest effect on philosophy, but Aristotle dominated Muslim and then Christian science and theology for the better part of 2000 years.
If we’re going to start revering this man, his real name ought to be known. Hint, it wasn’t Gutenberg. His real name was “Johann Gensfleisch” (John Gooseflesh), and he adopted the name Gutenberg when he invented his press.
Li’l bit of trivia. - Jesse.
Copernicus, actually. And some 1000 years earlier some Greek fellow whose name escapes me, but he didn’t have a very good agent.
Another vote for Alexander here.
-XT
In recorded history? René Descartes leaves a long shadow, as his dualistic humanism underpins both Kant & Bentham, & thus most of the ontological & moral thinking of Western Civ for a few centuries where it conquered the world.
I’d like to say Louis XIV, of course, but that’s actually a really tortured argument.
I gotta go with Mohammad. Why?
[ol]
[li]Worldwide influence 90% of the people mentioned here have no impact at all on the majority of the world. If Galileo has affected your average Chinese dude, it’s only in a very round about way. Indeed, this whole conversation seems awfully culture-centric. Anyway, Islam is a huge influence in both hemispheres and almost every country on Earth. It’s something that is on everyone’s radar.[/li][li]Legacy actually resembles what he did This does count Jesus out. His legacy is more about the people he inspired than the man himself, and that has to knock off a few points. Islam seems pretty in keeping with Mohammad’s ideas of it. [/li][li]Probably wouldn’t have happened anyway This is the problem with most sciences and explorers. This stuff would have happened anyway. [/li][li]Stands the test of time Yeah, Hitler was important. But will the events of WWII really still be in people’s minds a few hundred years from now? How many of us think about the French-Indian war? Granted they are different things for sure. But the impact of these things lessens in time. This kind of goes for all political leaders. Sure, Alexander the Great changed the world. But did he really? Would life really be that different if someone else had done it and it had turned out a bit different? I kind of think things wouldn’t be all that different. [/li][/ol]
Aristotle. He invented comprehensive, systematic philosophy, especially in the areas of ethics and logic. He basically taught us how to think.
And he was Alexander’s teacher.
Evening sven!
With respect, I don’t believe one can reasonably compare Christ to Mohammed.
Muslims revere Mohammed as a prophet, but then, they also revere Jesus as a prophet, they just believe Mohammed was a greater one.
No Muslim thinks Mohammed is the Son of God, nor does any Muslim claim to have a personal (as in, ‘I have met Him’) relationship with Mohammed, but millions of Christians have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s one whopper of a mass delusion - for those of you who are of the opinion that Christians are all delusional.
Muslims do not hold Mohammed to be ‘Begotten of GOD.’ Christians know that Jesus was.
Muslims pray to Allah and they have no mediator between them and Allah.
Christians pray to YAHWEH through and 'in the Name of Jesus Christ,'The only Mediator between YAHWEH and man.'
Jesus didn’t come to Earth to make a Name for Himself, but rather to make His Father’s Will known to all, and to reconcile humankind to GOD. You can’t take ‘points off’ (or from) someone because you think He ought to have been aiming for something other than He was. He came as a ‘Suffering Servant’ and a ‘Sacrificial Lamb,’ the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of humankind. Jesus’ Earthly Ministry didn’t have the same goals as Mohammed’s. You’re right that Jesus inspired men, and that’s what He came to do, and still does today whether the majority of members of this forum believe it or not.
Jesus is still working miracles every day and millions will testify to this. When was the last time you heard of Mohammed working a miracle?
Mohammed was 100% human and Jesus was and is Divine, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.
I’m not arguing against Mohammed or the impact he had on Islam, but rather pointing out that you cannot reasonably compare him to Jesus, ‘The Last Adam,’ and 'The Only Begotten Son of The Living God.'
Shalom - Jesse.