I Am Your Brother Joseph

An anecdotal biography of the best-known and best-loved bishop in America.

Muslims and African Americans are the two most misunderstood groups in America today, yet both groups have been a part of American life from its beginning. Today, it is the African American that most represents the aspirations of both groups. They are a new peoplea people who have overcome a history of oppression yet retained the good human character that is the saving grace of humanity. But we first have to acknowledge that we all have one Creator, share one common origin, and are part of one brotherhood of man. It is this people, the African American Muslim, that represents those ideals and who presents a model for humanity going forward.

The Story of Joseph, known to all believers of the three divine religions, is presented in this book in a dramatic form, based on its presentation in the Muslim Holy Book, the Quran, which confirms Biblical presentations. The story itself is an embodiment of human weaknesses such as jealousy, hatred, pride, passion, deception, intrigue, cruelty, and terror, which were vanquished and defeated by honourable qualities such as patience, loyalty, bravery, nobility, and compassion, and above all, faith which eventually lead Joseph to kingship, as ordained by the Divine Will which shall always remain Triumphant and Supreme!

The story of Joseph shows us what hope looks like in this world. Seventeen-year-old Joseph's life is shattered when he is betrayed by his nearest and dearest. This betrayal tears apart Jacob's family. Repeatedly, family members misperceive situations and make wrong choices. Yet through it all, God is present. The Lord, majestically described in the opening verses of the Bible as the creator of the world, shows in the concluding chapters of Genesis his loving concern for the vulnerable Joseph and the family that betrayed him. God is in charge and he cares. Through God's presence, what appears to be a hopeless situation is transformed to a new situation where all are given what is necessary to live abundantly. Although the radical nature of God's lovingkindness is not completely understood or acknowledged, God continues to move forward with his plan. Using concepts from the common law, the author shows the organizational structure of this remarkable story and sets out the writer's argument concerning God's relationship with humanity. Understanding the story of Joseph, the reader gets pointed in the right direction for further exploration of Holy Scripture.

This book is a comparative study in the hermeneutics of the ancient interpretations of the biblical Joseph story. Assuming that every interpretation results from a creative encounter between the ultimately open text of Scripture and the specific thought world of the interpreter, it examines the particular way in which each exegete construes the biblical outline of Joseph's character. Paying special attention to the literary nature of the sources, the study begins with an analysis of the narrative methods and the hermeneutic potential of the biblical story, and then proceeds to the inter-testamental evidence. The central concern of this study is to compare the different interpretations of the philosopher Philo, the historian Josephus and the Midrash Genesis Rabbah. These sources do not only range over a considerable amount of time but significantly derive respectively from the Greek and Hebrew cultural realm. Consequently, their figures of Joseph fulfil distinctly different purposes, ranging from an idealisation of Joseph as a Hellenistic politician to autobiographical apologetics and religious instruction.