Joseph and Aseneth: Jewish or Christian?

Abstract

The balance of probability still favors the consensus view that Joseph and Aseneth originated in Egyptian Judaism, before the revolt under Trajan. While a story of intermarriage of an Israelite and an Egyptian was not without interest for Christians, it was of far more central importance for Jews. The likelihood of Jewish authorship is confirmed by the laudatory reference to Hebrew women in ch. 1 and by Aseneth’s embrace of Joseph’s father and brothers. The fact that conversion does not involve baptism weighs heavily against Christian composition. Christian copyists found much that was congenial in the tale, but this does not require that they composed it.