Aseneth’s Epiphanies

This article examines the function of epiphany in Joseph and Aseneth. Though central to the narrative, this literary device and theological phenomenon is frequently overlooked or only indirectly included in other studies. This reading argues that the mode of epiphany is central, not only to the plot, but to the main themes and messages of Joseph and Aseneth; epiphany operates as a boundary marker between two groups in Joseph and Aseneth. These two groups are insiders and outsiders, and mortal and (quasi-)divine beings. While epiphanies are used to distinguish between these groups, they also invite the narrative’s heroine, Aseneth, to transcend these boundaries. The story’s numerous epiphanies signpost Aseneth’s transition from a mortal outsider to a quasi-divine insider. Used in this way, the epiphanies build a worldview wherein the divine intercedes directly on behalf of, and grants particular dispensations to certain individuals.

Negotiation in the Contact Zone: Reading Joseph and Aseneth from a Postcolonial Perspective

In Joseph and Aseneth, religious difference is the decisive boundary that separates Aseneth (gentile) and Joseph (Jew). Therefore, Aseneth’s conversion is essential to cross over this boundary in the narrative. In this respect, one may see Joseph and Aseneth as a colonizing text that seems to romanticize Aseneth’s conversion. However, colonial realities never result one-sidedly from the intention of the powerful; they are full of ambiguity, ambivalence, and hybridity. Utilizing the postcolonial concept of contact zone, this article deals with which negotiations between the disparate groups occur in the contact zone, and consequently what unexpected changes happen after the encounter. The union of the two groups in Joseph and Aseneth is characterized as an ambiguous relation rather than as a unilateral assimilation. Aseneth becomes a shelter for anyone who is in danger beyond the religious boundary by redefining the identity given by the angel, City of Refuge.

Complexes of Emotions in Joseph and Aseneth

The ancient Greek novel introduced to the history of literature a new topos: the “complex of emotions.” This became a staple of storytelling and remains widely in use across a variety of genres to the present day. The Hellenistic Jewish text Joseph and Aseneth employs this topos in at least three passages, where it draws attention to the cognitive-emotional aspect of the heroine’s conversion. This is interesting for what it contributes to our understanding of the genre of Aseneth, but it also has social-historical implications. In particular, it supports the idea that Aseneth reflects concerns about Gentile partners in Jewish-Gentile marriages, that Gentile partners might convert out of expedience or that they might be less than fully committed to abandoning “idolatrous” attachments. The representations of deep, grievous, and complex emotions in Aseneth’s transformational turn from idolatry to monolatry, then, might play a psychagogic role for the Gentile reader interested in marrying a Jewish person.

Folle d’amour, folle de Dieu : la femme de Potiphar au prisme des cultures

The paper analyses the character of Potiphar’s wife in the intercultural/ interreligious context. The founding story, that of the Book of Genesis, is the starting point; then comes the Hellenistic one (Joseph and Aseneth), the Christian (Morales on Job by Gregory the Great, Moralized Bibles etc.), the Jewish (Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Midrashim etc.) and the Muslim (the Quran, the Tafsir, the Stories of the Prophets etc.) stories and commentaries are presented. Particular attention is given to the Persian texts of the Middle Ages, since they fundamentally reinterpret the character of the heroine: from a lustful and perfidious woman, she becomes the image of a suffering lovestruck virgin and finally an allegory of the soul seeking God in Youssouf and Zouleïkha, Djami’s famous Sufi novel, tinged with Platonism.

Trojan Horses: The Counterintuitive Use of Dinah, Helen, and Goliath in Joseph and Aseneth

A primary theme of the first story in Joseph and Aseneth (Jos. Asen. 1–21) is the conversion of an Egyptian to the worship of the living God, motivated by romantic attraction. In this respect, Joseph and Aseneth is one among many ancient novelistic writings to use a story about intermarriage, in this case the marriage of a Hebrew to an Egyptian, as a means to explore themes related to hybridity. Though different in tone, I propose that the second story (Jos. Asen. 22–29) is equally concerned with hybridity and that it can likewise be read as expressing an intercultural sensibility that is open to gentile incorporation and intermarriage through its imitation—and subversion—of literary models from two different cultural domains, the Jewish Scriptures (the rape of Dinah; the slaying of Goliath) and classical Greek literature (the abduction of Helen).

Joseph and Aseneth: An Entertaining Tale

This article argues that whatever else Joseph and Aseneth is and for whatever other reason that it might have been written, the narrative is an entertaining tale. The starting point for this thesis is an assessment of the extent to which Joseph and Aseneth can be characterized as “fan fiction.” The article suggests that because both fan fiction and Joseph and Aseneth are “archontic,” fan theory can profitably inform Joseph and Aseneth. This theory is then applied to Joseph and Aseneth to throw new light on the motivation for which Joseph and Aseneth was written, specifically suggesting that, like fan fiction, the narrative is the result of the simultaneous adoration of and frustration with a specific cultural text, namely the Joseph Cycle. The article further contends that the narrative makes extensive use of irony, humor, and adventure as it displays various tendencies of fan fiction.