When Aseneth met Joseph

by Ross Shepard Kraemer

This is a study of an anonymous ancient work (surviving in shorter and longer versions) conventionally titled Joseph and Aseneth, but here simply designated as Aseneth. Composed in Greek, the text narates the transformation of the daughter of an Egyptian priest into an acceptable spouse for the biblical Joseph (whose marriage to this woman is given brief notice in Genesis). Relatively unknown outside of scholarly circles, this story is remarkable for its focus on a female character and for its apparent absence of overt misogyny. This unusual tale has traditionally been viewed as a Jewish conversion story composed no later than the early second century C.E. Through a detailed examination of the texts, however, Ross Kraemer arrives at conclusions that disagree with previous findings with respect not only to questions of date, provenance, identity, geographic origin, and textual relationships, but also to many matters of interpretation.