Der erinnerte Joseph

Joseph is one of the most versatile and powerful figures in Genesis. Magnus Rabel shows for the first time comprehensively how Joseph and his story were repeatedly reinterpreted and transformed in ancient Jewish and early Christian sources. The spectrum of Joseph's images ranges from wise counselor to ideal statesman to tyrant, instrument of God or typological forerunner of Christ. Narratologically precise and differentiated in terms of reception history, the study shows that Joseph is less a fixed figure than a constantly re-accentuated projection surface of cultural and theological discourses. The Joseph narrative proves to be the focal point of fundamental human questions about foreignness, wisdom, power and reconciliation. Joseph thus becomes a mirror of remembered identity formation and at the same time a model of future-oriented identity assurance.