Colossians: An Eco-Stoic Reading (Earth Bible Commentary)

By: Victoria S. Balabanski

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Synopsis: Victoria Balabanski analyses Colossians as a co-authored letter, writtenduring Paul's Roman imprisonment by Timothy with the input of Epaphras, and sent with Paul's introductory and concluding greetings. The Letter to the Colossians has the highest view of Christ of any of the New Testament writings, and this theology of divine permeation invites us to notice the ecological potential of this letter.Balabanksi explores how the cosmological background to this letter has remarkable resonances with Stoic thought, the most widely held philosophy in first century Asia Minor. Drawing upon how stoic thinkers sought to notice the way the divine Spirit permeated reality and to attune their lives to the Logos, divine reason, she argues that the Gospel of Christ was welcomed by small groups of people shaped by Stoic thought, and they experienced Christ as the visible expression of the One God who permeates reality.