29 Introducing Joseph of Nazareth

Welcome to the Investigators Guide to the Bible. The prosecution is about to rest and the defense is starting to take the stage! It really is time we get to know Joseph of Nazareth. This guy has been getting a bad rap for two thousand years. If you are one of the ones who thought Joseph was going to divorce Mary, you owe the guy an apology! Not even I’m that heartless and I’m an intelligence agent! A lot of this will sound familiar as we pull together the threads we’ve discussed and add more to the story. So, let’s do this! Introducing Joseph of NazarethWhen someone mentions Joseph of Nazareth, does a picture form in your mind? Take a second and look at the man in that picture. Is he young or old? Is he frail or healthy? Masculine or scrawny? Would it surprise you to learn that your image of Saint Joseph was deliberately curated? What makes me crazy is that the image of Joseph was curated to protect something that didn’t need protecting. Joseph was prematurely aged and given a first wife and family, almost entirely to protect the concept of Mary as a perpetual virgin. Resources and References so I can pretend I’m really smart:* Bible quotes I used come from the New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010 This is just my working Bible for most of these episodes. Any Bible you use will be fine for all of the Biblical references.If you read something and think the brilliant thought might be mine, it is safer to assume I messed up the citation. Give credit to the super smart people below.1. Meinardus, Otto F.A. The Holy Family in Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press, 19862. Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, Book 3. Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.3. Philo, translated by F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker. Loeb Classical Library: Philo Volume I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929.4. Pitre, Brant. The Hidden King: The Jewish Roots of St. Joseph. New York: Image, 20165. Rondet, Henri S.J. Saint Joseph, translated and edited by Donald Atwater. New York: P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 19566. Hesemann, Michael, translated by Michael J. Miller. Mary of Nazareth: History, Archeology, Legends. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, CA 2016 (Original German edition, 2011, Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg, Germany.)7. Baumgarten, Joseph. The Qumran-Essene Restraints on Marriage. The Center for Online Judaic Studies, undated. (http://cojs.org/the_qumran-essene_restraints_on_marriage-_joseph_baumgarten/, accessed 6 Jun and 8 Sep 2022)8. The Jewish Encyclopedia. “Marriage Laws.” JewishEncyclopedia.com, The Kopelman Foundation, 2002-2021. (https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10435-marriage-laws, accessed 6 Jun 2022)9. “The Protoevangelium of James the Lesser.” Translated by Alexander Walker. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.10. Wise, Michael; Abegg, Martin Jr.; and Cook, Edward. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 199611. Crawford, Sidnie White, "Not According to Rule: Women, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran" (2003). Faculty Publications, Classics and Religious Studies Department. Paper 65. (