David A. Johnson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...

 and has previously taught at UCLA and Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

. Raised in Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, he earned his BA from the University of Nebraska, where he studied under Robert Audi

Robert Audi

Robert Audi is an American philosopher whose major work has focused on epistemology, ethics—especially on ethical intuitionism-and the theory of action. He is O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and previously held a Chair in the Business School there...

, and his PhD from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. His areas of concentration are Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...

, Metaphysics

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

, and Epistemology. His brother, Edward, is Professor of Philosophy at University of New Orleans

University of New Orleans

The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...

.

In his first book, Hume, Holism, and Miracles, Johnson purports to have refuted David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

's popular argument

Argument

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...

 for the irrationality of belief in testimony of miracles (as can be found in his essay entitled "Of Miracles") as well as several reconstructions of Hume's argument (most notably that of Bayesian

Bayesian inference

In statistics, Bayesian inference is a method of statistical inference. It is often used in science and engineering to determine model parameters, make predictions about unknown variables, and to perform model selection...

 philosopher Jordan Howard Sobel). Subsequently, Robert Fogelin

Robert Fogelin

Robert John Fogelin is an American philosopher. He is a professor of Philosophy and Sherman Fairchild Professor in the Humanities at Dartmouth College where he has taught since 1980. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.Fogelin received his B.A. from the...

 (of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

) responded to Johnson's critique of Hume in his book A Defense of Hume on Miracles.

Johnson's second book, Truth Without Paradox, consists mostly of Johnson's resolution of many alleged paradoxes, such as the Liar Paradox

Liar paradox

In philosophy and logic, the liar paradox or liar's paradox , is the statement "this sentence is false"...

. Towards the end of the book, Johnson presents his version of the Ontological argument

Ontological argument

The ontological argument for the existence of God is an a priori argument for the existence of God. The ontological argument was first proposed by the eleventh-century monk Anselm of Canterbury, who defined God as the greatest possible being we can conceive...

 for the existence of God. He also gives an historical argument for the validity of the Bible.