Dr Michael Trainor

Michael Trainor is senior lecturer in biblical studies with the Australian Catholic University and parish priest of the Adelaide western suburb parish of Lockleys in the Archdiocese of Adelaide, South Australia. He holds an MA in biblical literature and languages (Chicago), MEd (Boston) and DTheol (Melbourne). His area of specialisation is the study of the New Testament and its relevance for our contemporary world, ecology and pastoral life.

Michael is co-chair of the Uniting Church-Roman Catholic Dialogue of South Australia, Co-chair of the South Australian Council of Christians and Jews, immediate past president of the Australian Catholic Biblical Association, immediate past Chair of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews, Member of the Australian Catholic Bishops Council for Christian Unity, Executive Board member and First (“Christian”) Vice-president of the International Council of Christians and Jews, and Chair of its Theology Committee.

In 2007 Michael received an Order of Australia (AM) by the Australian Government for his services to theology, archaeology and inter-faith relations. Michael is a member of the Australian Catholic Biblical Association, Catholic Biblical Association of America, Society of Biblical Literature and the International Society of New Testament Scholars.

His latest books include About Earth’s Children: An Ecological Listening to the Acts of the Apostles (Bloomsbury/T.&T.Clark, 2020), About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke (Sheffield Press, 2012), The Body of Jesus and Sexual Abuse: How the Gospel Passion Narratives inform a Pastoral Response (Wipf & Stock, 2015), and Owning and Consuming: Neo-Liberalism and the Biblical Voice (Routledge, 2018—co-authored with Prof Paul Babie of Adelaide University Law School). Michael is also a contributor to Enabling Dialogue about the Land: A Resource Book for Jews and Christians (New York: Paulist Press / Stimulus Foundation, 2021).