About me

Prof. Th. Johnson received his Ph.D. in ethics and philosophical theology within an interdisciplinary religion and humanities program from the University of Iowa (1987) after spending a year as a research scholar at Eberhard Karls Universität (Tübingen, Germany) sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service, the German equivalent of a Fulbright fellowship. His university studies included the equivalents of non-thesis MA degrees (1983) in three fields: History of Christianity, Comparative Theology and Ethics (Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic) and Psychology of Religion. His previous education included an Advanced CPE certificate from Missouri Baptist Hospital (St. Louis, 1981), a Master of Divinity (Magna Cum Laude) from Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, 1981), a BA (Cum Laude) from Hope College (Michigan, 1977), and studies at a Teen Challenge Bible Institute (Nieder-Wöllstadt, Germany, 1973). He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in America and was founding pastor of Hope Evangelical Church in Iowa City, Iowa. In the 1980s he was an academic assistant to the well-known theologian Donald Bloesch; in the early 90s he worked as a writer/research for Chuck Colson. Dr. Johnson served as an adjunct professor of philosophy at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, 1991-1994, and as a Visiting Professor at the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus, 1994-1996. UHU was a dissident, anti-Communist university which was closed by force at the orders of the Belarusian dictator in 2004.

In 1996, Thomas, Leslie and their children (Justin, Heather and Aimee) relocated to Prague. Dr. Johnson taught numerous classes in ethics and philosophy of religion at Anglo-American University (1996-2000) and historic Charles University (1998-2006). Since 2003 he has been Professor of Apologetics and Ethics for Martin Bucer Seminary (MBS) which has several study centers in major German cities, as well as in Austria and Switzerland, and in both Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey; in 2004 he helped establish the MBS study center in Zlin, Czech Republic. In 2007 he was also appointed MBS Vice President for Research and Personnel Development, to coordinate research, publications, and the development of new evangelical scholars for central Europe. Temporarily he is assisting Baltic Reformed Theological Seminary (Riga, Latvia and Vilnius, Lithuania) as interim dean, while they are moving into a new phase of their work which may include founding a series of Christian Studies programs in a Lithuanian university. Since 2004 he has been directing the Comenius Institute (Prague), with several projects which seek to develop a new evangelical academic witness. His major theoretical book, Natural Law Ethics: An Evangelical Proposal (Bonn: VKW, 2005) is part of his personal response to secularism in Western culture. His forthcoming book on the Trinity attempts to understand all of life in light of a Christian understanding of God, a protest against the trend to understand God in light of our secular lives; his forthcoming book on Human Rights illustrates an approach to social ethics inspired by the ideas of Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, and Helmut Thielicke. He regards knowledge and education as having as much to do with perspective as with information, an approach which has allowed him to teach university level courses in diverse fields including Business Ethics, Medical Ethics, Political Ethics, Religion and Literature, Religion and Society, Psychology of Religion, as well as a wide range of courses in philosophy, theology, and religious history. He has lectured in eleven countries and has about 80 published articles, essays, and reviews in several languages. Since 1994 his work has been largely sponsored through the International Institute for Christian Studies.

Leslie served in a wide variety of roles in primary and secondary education in Prague, before being appointed as the first principal and now director of the Christian International School of Prague (CISP), a new English language school for missionaries, Czechs, and other internationals. Classes began in September 2004. After beginning with 10 students, CISP reached 85 students in September 2008. Leslie graduated from Covenant College in the USA in May 2005 with an M.Ed. in integrated curriculum design. Justin graduated from Covenant College in 2003, and currently works as a military legislative assistant for Congressman (R) Todd Akin in Washington, DC. Heather graduated from Covenant College in 2005 and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she is currently a case worker for St. Louis social services. Justin was married (to Erika Ridgeway) in the spring of 2007, and Heather was married (to Lloyd Jackson) in the summer of 2007. Aimee graduated from CISP and began her studies at Wheaton College in the fall of 2008.