(2 of 7)
Both authors had to work around the Scripture's Joseph deficit. In outline, his life seems rich: after an initial moment of stunned disbelief at Mary's condition, he receives his own Annunciation in one of four angelic dreams; he marries her and gets her to Bethlehem; spirits mother and child off to Egypt when they are threatened by the murderous King Herod; then settles them in Nazareth. Yet there are strange omissions and truncations. Joseph is not described as present at Jesus' birth or the reception of the shepherds. The Egyptian trip is not actually recounted. The last reference to Joseph as a living person--a single sentence--occurs when Jesus is 12, shortly after Christ has made a rather cutting distinction between his parents on earth and his real "Father." Joseph's death goes unrecorded.
Yet scarcity can be liberating. "Because there's so little--because he's not quoted--we can make him work for whatever we want him to work for, as long as we stay within the intent of Scripture," says Jenkins. In fact, Edington, Rice and Jenkins are just the most recent participants in a lively and long-standing tradition. From almost the moment the Gospels were set down, early Christian communities, church fathers, Pontiffs and random laity have colored in the lightly sketched character of Joseph, and in some cases extended his contour considerably. At first they elaborated his story to buttress embattled doctrines like the virginity of Mary. Later interpreters repurposed him to respond to crises in the church or in society, as various Popes raised up the image of Joseph as the Family Father, the Worker, or the patron of the entire church. It is a varied cavalcade, and it can be hard to imagine all those Josephs meshing into a single personality; but then, a certain capaciousness is practically a job requirement for a biblical figure. Notes the Rev. Joseph Chorpenning, editorial director of St. Joseph's University Press in Philadelphia and director of the university's annual St. Joseph's Day Lecture: "To the extent that the Gospels are spare on Joseph's details and he seems to disappear from the scene somewhat unceremoniously, I think this prompted a kind of meditation on him by some of the great figures in Western Christianity and generated a fuller portrait."
The Chaste Caretaker
"Audiences," writes Louise Bourassa Perrotta, author of Saint Joseph: His Life and His Role in the Church Today, "do not generally react well when favorite characters are retired early," citing Sherlock Holmes and Joseph. Nor did early Christians appreciate potshots by contemporaries who suspected Jesus might have been Joseph's son after all, or questioned Mary's virginity when Scripture talked about his having several "brothers" and "sisters." Among the first attempts to address all those issues were the vivid set of books known as the Apocrypha.