Dreaming of Droughts: Genesis 37.1–11 in Dialogue with Contemporary Science

Abstract

Dreams of a future reality, particularly Joseph's dreams in which he envisions himself in a position of status during a time of drought, tend to be labeled as supernatural gift from a distant God without further elaboration. However, a form-critical analysis of the text indicates that societal and emotional factors influence the dreaming brain of Joseph. These same factors also aid in propelling the plot of the Genesis novella forward, increasing the probability of the dream becoming a reality. In this study, answers to how our dreams could present a vision of a future reality are examined from ancient Greek philosophers to the contemporary sciences. The history of the tradition of futures forecasting is traced from the ancient Babylonians through Hermetic philosophers to modern meteorology. The primary element necessary for such predictions to be possible is the observation of patterns in the natural environment. Rather than the view of dreams of a future reality as simply supernatural gift from a distant God, the thesis of this article is that Joseph's dreams are a culmination of natural processes from societal and environmental influences, all in intimate connection with the divine.