The public criticism by the bishops created "a substantial boon in sales of Quest,"[5] and frayed already strained relations between the church hierarchy and Catholic theologians.
While at CUA in 1980 she felt profoundly affected by events of the Salvadoran Civil War when four American women, including three nuns, working as missionaries and helping oppressed people to escape violence, were abducted and killed by a death squad.
Though she contemplated leaving rather than facing the "arduous process of interrogation," General Superior Sister John Raymond McGann advised her not to give up, and Johnson did receive tenure.
The main areas of focus for Johnson's writing are the mystery of God, Jesus Christ, Mary, saints, science and religion, human suffering, ethics, and issues related to women.
The inspiration for the book came in 2009 from the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species; Johnson received a research grant to leave for the 2011–2012 academic year to write it.
In addition to including a close reading of Darwin's work, the book reflects on the Nicene Creed which, according to Johnson, "is really a narrative of God's evolutionary relationship to the world.
"[25]: 5, 11, 16–17 Johnson, according to the doctrinal evaluation "employs standards from outside the faith to criticize and to revise in a radical fashion the conception of God revealed in Scripture and taught by the Magisterium.
[29] Father James Martin, in America, said that the commission's doctrinal evaluation of Quest for a Living God was detailed, and described an imprimatur as "the church's official approval of a book, granted by a bishop after a lengthy process of review by theologians.
[21] Although Johnson did not request an imprimatur, she complained that the doctrinal evaluation was issued without consulting with her, and she objected that it is a "misrepresentation" which "in several key instances...radically misinterprets what I think, and what I in fact wrote.
[35] In October 2011, several Catholic theologians expressed annoyance about the doctrinal evaluation because it was issued three years after the book was published and because it appeared to violate the bishops' own guidelines.
[3] According to Executive Secretary Weinandy, "There was a sense of urgency in this matter, because the bishops knew that Sister Johnson’s book was being taught in undergraduate theology".
Thomas Weinandy, was a conservative theologian subsequently appointed by Pope Francis to the International Theological Commission which assists the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
[6][36] According to Susan Ross, the president of the 1,400-member Catholic Theological Society of America, Weinandy's tenure with the bishops' conference was "antagonistic" and the committee's approach on doctrine while he was there "adversarial.
"[39] Johnson had been viewed as a leader of feminist scholars who dissect how cultural biases among biblical writers may have affected women's approved roles in Christian religious tradition.
The New York Times said: "Many on the left and the right agree on one point: The bishops, who have already shut off discussion about ordaining women, are signaling that other long-debated questions about gender in the church – the choice of pronouns in prayers, the study of the male and female aspects of God – are substantially off-limits as well.
"[4] Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has a close relationship with Francis and is "known in media circles as 'the pope's theologian',"[40][41][42] said during a speech at Fordham University in 2014 that he highly esteemed the writings of Johnson, joking that he was also considered "suspect" at the Vatican.
Johnson maintained her opinions, that it appeared to her that the members of the USCCB had never read her book, and that "no one, not myself or the theological community, the media, or the general public knows what doctrinal issue is at stake.