Michael Trainor – författare

This book compares our contemporary preoccupation with ownership and consumption with the role of property and possessions in the biblical world, contending that Christian theology provides a valuable entry point to discussing the issue of private property—a neoliberal tool with the capacity to shape the world in which we live by exercising control over the planet’s resources. Babie and Trainor draw on the teaching on property and possessions of Jesus of Nazareth. They demonstrate how subsequent members of the Jesus movement—the writers of early collection of Jesus sayings (called ‘Q’), and the gospels of Mark and Luke—reformulated Jesus’ teaching for different contexts that was radical and challenging for their own day. Their view of wealth and possessions continues today to be as relevant as ever. By placing the insights of the Galilean Jesus and the early Jesus movement into conversation with contemporary views on private property and consumer culture, the authors develop legal, philosophical and theological insights, what they describe as ‘seven theses’, into how our desire for ethical living fares in the neoliberal marketplace.

The gospel of Luke presents an ecological symphony that reveals a Jesus connected to Earth. His ministry touches all aspects of creation, human and non-human, and invites disciples into an ecological asceticism. This same spirit continues in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Earth Bible Commentary on Acts, Michael Trainor allows our environmental concerns to shape his interpretative approach, and thus ecological nuances emerge. Luke’s household of disciples, imbued with the spirit of the risen Jesus, to embrace the world and bring to it a word of reconciliation, embark on this mission. This formally begins at Pentecost with their reception of God’s creative and renewing Spirit that empowers them as Earth’s children. From this moment an explosion of activity moves them over Earth’s lands, beginning in Jerusalem, Earth’s navel (Acts 1.1-8.1), into Samaria, the space in-between that navel and Galilee, the garden of God’s earthly delights (Acts 8.2-11.17), to the ends of Earth, Rome (Acts 11.18-28.33). As we trace Luke’s vast geographical journey around the Mediterranean, key moments highlight fresh environmental insights that offer new hope for contemporary disciples seeking ecological affirmation at this particular time in world history.

The gospel of Luke presents an ecological symphony that reveals a Jesus connected to Earth. His ministry touches all aspects of creation, human and non-human, and invites disciples into an ecological asceticism. This same spirit continues in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Earth Bible Commentary on Acts, Michael Trainor allows our environmental concerns to shape his interpretative approach, and thus ecological nuances emerge. Luke''s household of disciples, imbued with the spirit of the risen Jesus, to embrace the world and bring to it a word of reconciliation, embark on this mission. This formally begins at Pentecost with their reception of God''s creative and renewing Spirit that empowers them as Earth''s children. From this moment an explosion of activity moves them over Earth''s lands, beginning in Jerusalem, Earth''s navel (Acts 1.1-8.1), into Samaria, the space in-between that navel and Galilee, the garden of God''s earthly delights (Acts 8.2-11.17), to the ends of Earth, Rome (Acts 11.18-28.33). As we trace Luke''s vast geographical journey around the Mediterranean, key moments highlight fresh environmental insights that offer new hope for contemporary disciples seeking ecological affirmation at this particular time in world history.

The gospel of Luke presents an ecological symphony that reveals a Jesus connected to Earth. His ministry touches all aspects of creation, human and non-human, and invites disciples into an ecological asceticism. This same spirit continues in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Earth Bible Commentary on Acts, Michael Trainor allows our environmental concerns to shape his interpretative approach, and thus ecological nuances emerge. Luke''s household of disciples, imbued with the spirit of the risen Jesus, to embrace the world and bring to it a word of reconciliation, embark on this mission. This formally begins at Pentecost with their reception of God''s creative and renewing Spirit that empowers them as Earth''s children. From this moment an explosion of activity moves them over Earth''s lands, beginning in Jerusalem, Earth''s navel (Acts 1.1-8.1), into Samaria, the space in-between that navel and Galilee, the garden of God''s earthly delights (Acts 8.2-11.17), to the ends of Earth, Rome (Acts 11.18-28.33). As we trace Luke''s vast geographical journey around the Mediterranean, key moments highlight fresh environmental insights that offer new hope for contemporary disciples seeking ecological affirmation at this particular time in world history.

The gospel of Luke presents an ecological symphony that reveals a Jesus connected to Earth. His ministry touches all aspects of creation, human and non-human, and invites disciples into an ecological asceticism. This same spirit continues in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Earth Bible Commentary on Acts, Michael Trainor allows our environmental concerns to shape his interpretative approach, and thus ecological nuances emerge. Luke’s household of disciples, imbued with the spirit of the risen Jesus, to embrace the world and bring to it a word of reconciliation, embark on this mission. This formally begins at Pentecost with their reception of God’s creative and renewing Spirit that empowers them as Earth’s children. From this moment an explosion of activity moves them over Earth’s lands, beginning in Jerusalem, Earth’s navel (Acts 1.1-8.1), into Samaria, the space in-between that navel and Galilee, the garden of God’s earthly delights (Acts 8.2-11.17), to the ends of Earth, Rome (Acts 11.18-28.33). As we trace Luke’s vast geographical journey around the Mediterranean, key moments highlight fresh environmental insights that offer new hope for contemporary disciples seeking ecological affirmation at this particular time in world history.

This book compares our contemporary preoccupation with ownership and consumption with the role of property and possessions in the biblical world, contending that Christian theology provides a valuable entry point to discussing the issue of private property—a neoliberal tool with the capacity to shape the world in which we live by exercising control over the planet’s resources. Babie and Trainor draw on the teaching on property and possessions of Jesus of Nazareth. They demonstrate how subsequent members of the Jesus movement—the writers of early collection of Jesus sayings (called ‘Q’), and the gospels of Mark and Luke—reformulated Jesus’ teaching for different contexts that was radical and challenging for their own day. Their view of wealth and possessions continues today to be as relevant as ever. By placing the insights of the Galilean Jesus and the early Jesus movement into conversation with contemporary views on private property and consumer culture, the authors develop legal, philosophical and theological insights, what they describe as ‘seven theses’, into how our desire for ethical living fares in the neoliberal marketplace.

The ancient site of Colossae in south-west Turkey has been sorely neglected by archaeologists and biblical commentators. It has never been excavated. Modern scholarship in general has been content to repeat nineteenth century assessments, especially those of J.B. Lightfoot and W.M. Ramsay. This is the first modern contribution to gather the archaeological, historical, classical and biblical materials related to the site and its region, some of which is published in English for the first time. It marks a major step forward in scholarship on Colossae, and is designed to restore Colossae to time and space, to its material and comparative significance. Colossae emerges as a site of uninterrupted human activity in dynamic interaction with its neighbours from before the Achaemenid period to beyond the end of Byzantine control. Evidence of a chalcolithic origin of Colossae is presented along with an assessment of the relationship of the site to the modern city of Honaz. An array of international scholars have brought their specialisations in various periods and disciplines to yield a radically new assessment of the history and importance of the site. All future scholarship will be able to use this volume as the necessary foundation for research. The volume includes the first chronology of the ancient site and the first English translation of the key Byzantine text centred on the ancient city, as well as major new insights into the text of the Epistle to the Colossians.