Dr. Johann Maier von Eck (13 November 1486 – 13 February 1543) was a German Scholastic theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. It was Eck who argued that the beliefs of Martin Luther and Jan Hus were similar.

Johann Eck was born Johann Maier at Eck (later Egg, near Memmingen, c. 70 km miles south of Augsburg) in Swabia, and derived his additional surname from his birthplace, which he himself, after 1505, always modified into Eckius or Eccius, i.e. "of Eck." His father, Michael Maier, was a peasant and bailiff, or Amtmann, of the village. The boy's education was undertaken by his uncle, Martin Maier, parish priest at Rottenburg on the river Neckar.

At the age of twelve he entered the University of Heidelberg, which he left in the following year for Tübingen. After taking his master's degree in 1501, he began the study of theology under Johann Jakob Lempp, and studied the elements of Hebrew and political economy with Konrad Summenhart. He left Tübingen in 1501 on account of the plague and after a year at Cologne finally settled at Freiburg University, at first as a student of theology and law and later as a successful teacher where he was mentor to the prominent Anabaptist leader of Waldshut and Nikolsburg, Balthasar Hubmaier, and later retaining this relationship during their move to the University of Ingolstadt. In 1508 he entered the priesthood in Strasbourg and two years later obtained his doctorate in theology.

 Martin Luther (help·info) (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German monk, priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.

Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with Luther's teachings are called Lutherans.

Johannes Rau (German pronunciation: [joˈhanəs ˈʁaʊ]; 16 January 1931 – 27 January 2006) was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.

Rau was born in the Barmen part of Wuppertal, Rhine Province, as the third of five children. His family was strongly Protestant. As a schoolboy, Rau was active in the Confessing Church, a circle of the German Protestant Church which actively resisted Nazism.

Rau left school in 1949 and worked as a journalist and publisher, especially with the Protestant Youth Publishing House.

Rau was a member of the All-German People’s Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann. This party was known for proposing German reunification, from 1952 until it was disbanded in 1957.

In 1958, Rau and his political mentor, Gustav Heinemann, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), where he was active in the Wuppertal chapter. He served as deputy chairman of the SPD party of Wuppertal, and was elected later on to the City Council (1964–1978), where he served as chairman of the SPD Group (1964–1967) and later as Mayor (1969–1970).

Jan Fedder (born 14 January 1955 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German actor. He is best known for his role as police officer Dirk Matthies in the German television show "Großstadtrevier". He is also known for his role as the crude Petty Officer Pilgrim in Wolfgang Petersen's film, Das Boot.

While filming a scene in which the U-96 is caught in a storm, Fedder lost his footing and was nearly swept off the conning tower set. Bernd Tauber (who played Navigator Kriechbaum) noticed Fedder was suddenly missing and cried out "Mann-über-Bord!" (man overboard). With the cameras still rolling, Tauber helped him to the conning tower hatch. Peterson did not realize at first that it was an accident and said "Good idea, Jan. We'll do that one more time!" before it came upon him. Fedder was hospitalized and his role was partially rewritten so that he was bed-ridden for a short portion of the film. The footage was developed and the scene in which Pilgrim is nearly swept off the submarine is one of the most memorable moments in the film.

Dwight K. Nelson is a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist and author.

He has been the senior pastor of Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University since 1983. Before coming to Andrews he served as a pastor in Oregon for ten years. He was the preacher for the Adventist satellite evangelistic series The NeXt Millennium Seminar in 1998. In 2004 he, along with former BBC News presenter Gillian Joseph presented a discussion-style series called Evidence: Through My Experience held at Newbold College, Berkshire. Later that same year he hosted another discussion series at Newbold College called Mind The Gap. He currently hosts the television program The Evidence Nelson serves as adjunct professor of homiletics at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, of missionary parents, Nelson converses in Japanese. He attended Far Eastern Academy in Singapore and graduated from Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1973. He attended Andrews University where he received a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree in 1976 and a doctor of ministry degree in 1986 from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. His books include Outrageous Grace, Countdown to the Showdown and Built to Last. In 1994, the Pioneer Memorial Church hosted ABC Television's National Christmas Eve service. He is the speaker for a weekly radio and television program, New Perceptions. He is married to Karen Oswald Nelson, a registered nurse. They have a son Kirk, and a daughter Kristin. In 2010, Kirk graduated from Andrews with a BA in Communication.