Thursday, February 06, 2014

Book Review: I am Joseph


Back in the early 1990s, Alan Pain published a series of supposedly autobiographical books featuring some Bible characters. Among the others, such as Moses and Jeremiah, is Joseph's story. In this book, Joseph tells his story in his own words, with a remarkably twentieth-century viewpoint on a number of issues. It's an interesting take on the story, with some useful observations, but that's probably as far as it goes.

From his ancestor's days, Joseph traces his chequered background, through to the series of dreams which caused turmoil to his family life and eventual slavery in Egypt. Through sexual temptation and imprisonment to becoming the chief (under Pharaoh) of the whole land, the story of Joseph is well known, and Pain provides the story in a straightforward way. The details are helpful, the perspective can at times be refreshing, but it's when he gets bogged down in the psychology of what's going on that the book seems to drag in places.

If you're planning a sermon series on the later chapters of Genesis, it might be useful background reading, but I wouldn't build too much on it.

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