{"title":"Alan E Johnson","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"first-american-founder-book-alan-e-johnson-9781511823715","title":"The First American Founder","description":"\u003cp\u003eRoger Williams, a deeply religious minister in seventeenth-century New England, revolutionized thinking about the role government should play in religion. Banished from Massachusetts for his controversial views, he founded the Town of Providence on the basis of full liberty of conscience and total separation of church and state. These radical ideas were adopted by the Colony of Providence Plantations, which later became known as the Colony and then State of Rhode Island. Williams also insisted, contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, that Europeans could acquire American land only through voluntary transactions with Native Americans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the story of the dramatic life, thought, and work of a man who refused to accept the conventional wisdom of his time and who forged a new way of thinking that came to characterize the best in the American tradition. Born and raised in England, Williams knew or otherwise personally encountered-during his youth or in later return visits-some of the greatest figures of English history: Sir Edward Coke, Sir Francis Bacon, King James I, the young man who became King Charles I, John Milton, Oliver Cromwell. In contrast to such famous contemporaries, Williams persistently argued, publicly and unambiguously, for complete liberty of conscience and a wall of separation between church and state-both for America and for Europe. At a time when most of the governments in Europe and America promulgated some form of established religion that persecuted religious dissenters, Williams founded a polity that was explicitly based on the principles and values of what became, more than 150 years later, the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe First American Founder\u003c\/i\u003e traces, often in Roger Williams's own colorful words, the conflicts that Williams and his settlement experienced in maintaining a haven for persecuted religious minorities. Those challenges came both in the form of military and political imperialism from other colonies and from internal dissension. The book explains how Williams faced these issues and managed to create and preserve a political society whose principles we could recognize today. It also discusses how Williams influenced, directly and indirectly, the generation that later fought the Revolutionary War and established the Constitution and Bill of Rights.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis work is written for both the general reader and the professional historian. The main text is readable by all. The endnotes and appendices contain scholarly documentation and discussion that will satisfy the most meticulous student of history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49657029099793,"sku":"GOR013193392","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51032011473169,"sku":"NIN9781511823715","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1511823712.jpg?v=1751373374"},{"product_id":"electoral-college-book-alan-e-johnson-9780692078327","title":"The Electoral College","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt was a mantra she would say to herself when she faced the hardships of life, and boy, did she face some hardships: 2 blessed 2 be stressed.\u003cbr\u003e Inspired years ago to write her book, author Lesia R. Lankford has now seen her dream, and mantra, come to life with her new book, 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed: Spiritual Food for Your Spiritual Journey.\u003cbr\u003e Lesia, having experienced everything from financial struggle to divorce to raising her child as a single mom, wanted to inspire others to turn to God rather than those around them for comfort, wisdom, and the truth of what is ahead for the future.\u003cbr\u003e The chapter numbers represent symbolic meanings in Scripture, as the author shares parts of her life story and how God reminded her to not be stressed but instead focus on how she was blessed by Him.\u003cbr\u003e Whether it is lessening the effect haters have on you to remembering God in the storms of life to look forward to seeing Jesus face to face, 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed will ignite within you the desire to draw closer to God.\u003cbr\u003e As you go on your spiritual journey, may this spiritual food bring you awareness to live each day thankful for what the day brought rather than what it was missing.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49809409933585,"sku":"CIN0692078320G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0692078320.jpg?v=1750848107"},{"product_id":"electoral-college-book-alan-e-johnson-9780970105516","title":"The Electoral College","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51010045280529,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51010048950545,"sku":"NIN9780970105516","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0970105517.jpg?v=1751203199"},{"product_id":"free-will-and-human-life-book-alan-e-johnson-9780970105530","title":"Free Will and Human Life","description":"Does free will exist? Does it require an immaterial soul? Is there a scientific basis for it? These are among the many questions addressed in this book. The Introduction defines free will as the independent ability to make conscious decisions that are neither predetermined nor random. Chapter 1 evaluates representative arguments against free will: theological predeterminism (Augustine's later writings, Luther, and Calvin), scientific causal predeterminism (universal natural determinism), ad hoc (genetic or environmental) determinism, and compatibilism\/soft determinism (the view that free will and determinism are compatible). Chapter 2 discusses representative arguments in favor of free will: Aristotle, modern dualism (Descartes, Kant, and recent Christianity), and contemporary philosophical and scientific perspectives (including evolution\/natural selection, neuroscience, quantum physics, and neuroplasticity). Chapter 3 (which also discusses chaos theory, complexity theory, and secular biological teleology) concludes that free will, properly understood, exists and is beneficial to human life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51082624991505,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51082627842321,"sku":"NIN9780970105530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630702723345,"sku":"NGR9780970105530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0970105533.jpg?v=1751045264"},{"product_id":"reason-and-human-government-book-alan-e-johnson-9780970105585","title":"Reason and Human Government","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53358126170385,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53358126727441,"sku":"NIN9780970105585","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780970105585.jpg?v=1774906600"},{"product_id":"reason-and-human-ethics-book-alan-e-johnson-9780970105554","title":"Reason and Human Ethics","description":"\u003ci\u003eReason and Human Ethics\u003c\/i\u003e argues that a secular, biological, teleological basis of human ethics exists and that reasoning and critical thinking about both ends and means are essential to human ethics. It examines how these principles apply in the contexts of individual ethics, social ethics, citizen ethics, media ethics, and political ethics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 1 (What Is the Basis of Human Ethics?) discusses the various theories of the basis of ethics over the millennia. It concludes that ethics is properly founded on a secular, biological, teleological understanding of human nature. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 2 (Human Reason) begins with a discussion of how reason relates to secular teleology. It argues that reason is-contrary to much of modern philosophy and science-properly directed to human ends as well as means. It explains the differences between abstract and practical reasoning and between formal and informal logic. Unlike mathematics and physics, ethics involves practical reasoning and informal, nonsymbolic logic. The chapter concludes with an extended discussion of common fallacies and the importance of critical thinking. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 3 (Individual Ethics) addresses the appropriate ethical orientation toward ourselves as individuals. It explains why we should want to be rational, how human reason is related to cerebral maturation, the life of reason, and general departures from a rational life. It concludes with a discussion of the ethical mean of Confucius and Aristotle and how that mean properly applies to such moral virtues as courage and moderation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 4 (Social Ethics) considers how individuals should think and act regarding other human and nonhuman beings. This chapter discusses when we should or should not \u003ci\u003eexpress\u003c\/i\u003e ethical judgments about others, the merits and limitations of the Golden Rule, prejudice and discrimination, veracity, friendship, romantic relationships, family, work, business ethics, environmental ethics, the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, and issues regarding force and fraud. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 5 (Citizen and Media Ethics) discusses, among other things, the long-forgotten concept of public virtue, the ethical imperative of reason in public discourse and conduct, ideologies of the far Right and far Left, and media ethics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 6 (Political Ethics) is about the ethics of political leadership. The first major section is on authoritarian, tyrannical, and totalitarian political leaders, with a discussion of Plato's account of oligarchical and tyrannical rulers in his \u003ci\u003eRepublic\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSeventh Letter\u003c\/i\u003e and the examples of Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, and Vladimir Putin. The second section addresses irrational democratic-republican political leadership, with examples being the self-acknowledged gut instinct leadership styles of U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump and the latter's advanced flirtation with authoritarian ideology and practice. The concluding section is about rational democratic-republican political leadership: what it would be and a possible example in President John F. Kennedy's leadership during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn epilogue sums it all up, and the appendix discusses the theological and violent conflicts among the claims to revelation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53381315592465,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53381316215057,"sku":"NIN9780970105554","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780970105554.jpg?v=1781350343"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-ie\/collections\/author-books-by-alan-e-johnson.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}