Margaret Placentra Johnston

As a practicing Optometrist for over three decades, Dr. Margaret Placentra Johnston has dedicated her life to helping people see better in the physical world. In the last decade, her mission has also included offering a clearer vision of a different kind-a broader view of religion and spirituality than that recognized in the conventional world.
Her first book Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind (Quest Books, 2012) brings together the works of twelve spiritual development theorists from different centuries, different disciplines and different parts of the world to illuminate some rarely described steps necessary on the road to spiritual maturity. It was named GOLD WINNER of the 2013 Nautilus Book Award in (Western) Religion/spirituality.
In Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: A View Toward Peace Among the Religions Margaret provides further perspective. Many factors in Western culture are calling us to enlarge our understanding of religion and spirituality beyond the "truths" dispensed in our typical organized religions. New perspectives emerging now challenge us to recognize and appreciate the universal nature of our spiritual connections.
Through this lens, Margaret can see the way forward to toward a kinder, more gentle world, and an outlook that can finally allow peace among the religions. She writes to help these new perspectives become part of the common knowledge in our culture.
Dr. Johnston holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) in Education from the Catholic University of America; a Bachelor of Science (BS) and a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now called Salus University.) She offers courses and speaks to groups on the topic of spiritual development, and has been interviewed on numerous radio shows. Margaret has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Northern Virginia.
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