When Aseneth Met Joseph: A Late Antique Tale of the Biblical Patriarch and His Egyptian Wife, Reconsidered - Hardcover

Kraemer, Ross Shepard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195114752 ISBN 13: 9780195114751

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

This is the study of an anonymous ancient work, usually called Joseph and Aseneth, which narrates the transformation of the daughter of an Egyptian priest into an acceptable spouse for the biblical Joseph, whose marriage to Aseneth is given brief notice in Genesis.

Kraemer takes issue with the scholarly consensus that the tale is a Jewish conversion story composed no later than the early second century C.E. Instead, she dates it to the third or fourth century C.E., and argues that, although no definitive answer is presently possible, it may well be a Christian account. This critique also raises larger issues about the dating and identification of many similar writings, known as pseudepigrapha.

Kraemer reads its account of Aseneth's interactions with an angelic double of Joseph in the context of ancient accounts of encounters with powerful divine beings, including the sun god Helios, and of Neoplatonic ideas about the fate of souls. When Aseneth Met Joseph demonstrates the centrality of ideas about gender in the representation of Aseneth and, by extension, offers implications for broader concerns about gender in Late Antiquity.

About this title

About the Author:

Ross Shepard Kraemer is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Brown University.

Review:

"When Aseneth Met Joseph stands out as a thought-provoking, clear and broadly informed analysis that will be instructive to students of ancient religion and historians of ancient Mediterranean culture." --Church History

"Extremely learned and lively... For anyone interested in ancient religious fiction generally or in the complex history of Judaism and Christianity in the late antique period, this enormously erudite and thoroughly engaging work will be a stimulating read." --Hebrew Studies

"A challenging, provocative and refreshing book that should help to bring Joseph and Aseneth closer to classicists and to ancient historians... Kraemer's work is an impressive and dynamic display of scholarship and an excellent point of departure for any future exploration of Joseph and Aseneth." --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0195114752
• ISBN 13: 9780195114751
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384