Writing as a non-Jewish historian (a Catholic), Johnson is openly admiring of Jewish contributions to humanity. He views Jewish history as a "providential" story of survival.
Johnson argues that the Jews survived because they were "the people of the book." When they lost their land, they carried their nationhood within their laws and literature. A History of the Jews
He emphasizes how Jewish ethics and monotheism provided the moral framework for Western civilization. Writing as a non-Jewish historian (a Catholic), Johnson
Life under Christian and Muslim rule in the Middle Ages. A History of the Jews