The Fable of Joseph and Aséneth
A Mystical Parable of the Soul Seeking God
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Arts & Literature
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2021
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Publisher's Description
The Fable of Joseph and Aseneth is an imaginative elaboration of a verse from Genesis describing the relationship between Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob, and Aseneth, a beautiful maiden of Egypt. Infused with all the tender sensitivity and lyricism of the Song of Solomon, it weaves an enchanting tale of infatuation, heartbreak, and joyful reunion. While the work may be read simply as a piece of visionary fiction, Aseneth--who soon becomes the story's central and most sympathetic character--may also be taken as an allegorical figure of the human soul, as it moves through different stages in its relationship to God. Beginning with contentment in merely earthly things, the soul is then awakened to a consuming desire for the transcendent. Yet this transcendent ideal soon proves fleeting, inaccessible, and remote, leaving only a state of emptiness and desolation. Finally, through a mystical encounter with the incarnate deity, the soul is taken up into an ecstatic union with God--a meeting of heaven and earth, of the human and the divine. This volume presents an English verse adaptation of the principal Syriac version of the fable, as well as prose translations of related Greek and Syriac fragments.
Endorsements (2)
“This is an exquisitely beautiful story, told in spellbinding verse. The richness of its allegorical wisdom and the evocative imagery of its poetic landscape feed and delight the soul. Father Robert Nixon’s translation transmits this ancient tale from an exotic time and place into words and pictures in the mind that we can all appreciate. The translation is like a window—all you see is the beauty of the poem. A treasure!”
“Robert Nixon is a hidden treasure of Australian monasticism. His inventive, even playful, free translations of rare and ancient texts continue to surprise and delight. The Fable of Joseph and Aséneth is no exception. Retold in unbounded quatrains, it tells the heartbreaking tale of Aséneth’s abandonment by her beloved Joseph—an abandonment that leads her inexorably to the ‘God of void and silence, whom none could touch nor see.’”
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