Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph

by Adam Hamilton

From his beginnings as a humble carpenter to his all-important role as the earthly father of Jesus Christ, Joseph's place in the nativity story is sometimes overlooked but contains valuable lessons for all of us. Join Adam Hamilton as he examines Christmas through the eyes of Joseph. Absent from much of the biblical narrative, Joseph never spoke a word, but his courageous actions were crucial to the birth of Christ and God's salvation plan for humanity.

As you read this book, you will understand how Joseph's story is much like our own. In life, we encounter circumstances that we would never have chosen for ourselves. At times it can be tempting just to walk away. Joseph provides us a great example of humbly obeying God even when we don't understand and faithfully moving forward in the strength that God provides.

Exchange your doubt for courage this Advent and Christmas season. Learn to accept and glorify God's will even when circumstances make it difficult to do so.

Additional components for a four-week adult study include a comprehensive Leader Guide and a DVD featuring author and pastor Adam Hamilton. Chapter topics include:




A Carpenter Named Joseph Whose Child Is This? Raising a Child Not Your Own The Journey to Bethlehem The Rest of the Story

Genres: Christmas, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Church, Faith

142 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2017

About the author

Rev. Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. He grew up in the Kansas City area. He earned a B.A. degree in Pastoral Ministry from Oral Roberts University and a Master of Divinity Degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection has grown from four people in 1990 to more than 16,000 adult members with an average weekly worship attendance of more than 8,600 in 2011. The church was listed as the most influential mainline church in America in a 2005 survey of American pastors.

Adam has been married 30 years to LaVon. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Candy Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find it amazing how someone can write a book about a man who was never quoted and very little was said about. But Hamilton did it, and did it well. With such ease of the pen, such humility with the Christmas story, he shaped an understanding of Jesus’s earthly father. With interviews, journeys, books, translations, and other tools, Hamilton has gone to great lengths to research the most influential earthly man in Jesus’s life. Well done. Well done.

[Diane Gladstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but insightful study of Joseph.

[Wproudfo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though this felt for a while like a superfluous meditation on Joseph's character, built predominantly on speculation and random anecdotal stories from Hamilton's anonymous parishioners, it has enough grace and loving wisdom to prevent it becoming too excessively maudlin.

[Jara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite short, but then, little is known about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. However, short books can often carry an important message as this one does.
The author discusses what is known, accepted, or speculated about Joseph from his lineage to his role as Jesus' earthly father. Even Joseph's age is questionable. Was he a young man when he married Mary, and Jesus' brothers and sisters came later? Or was he an older widower whose children by his first wife were known as Jesus' brothers and sisters?
Joseph was a doubter; it took a visit by an angel to convince him to marry Mary, even though she was already pregnant by whom he presumed must be another man. But Joseph had a strong faith (Matthew says he was a righteous man) and when angels appeared several more times to tell Joseph to flee Bethlehem to save his family, and then again, when it was safe to return home, he obeyed God's message. Throughout Bible times and even today, angels appear in whatever way someone needs them to appear in order to convey God's message.
This would really be a very short book if the author limited his text to factual information about Joseph, but he reflects on what this knowledge can mean to us in current times. Although Matthew and Luke describe different versions of Jesus' birth/infancy, each version helps us imagine Joseph's role in the story.
Joseph undertakes a journey he initially didn't want to take, as happens to all human beings (due to divorce, death, illness, etc.). But God promises to sustain us on this journey if we turn our burdens over to Him so He can make something beautiful of them. "His providence has a way of bringing good and beautiful things from pain, heartache, and disappointment." (p. 100) And who taught Jesus to walk the journeys he did not want to take? His earthly father, Joseph.
Joseph's role as Jesus' earthly father shows what it means to care for and build up a child who is not your own; whether the role is of adoptive father, step father, or foster father (and which one was Joseph?).
The author also describes real life and times of people of that era. I always wondered why Joseph and Mary went to an inn to stay during the census, since Joseph's family originated in Bethlehem. An inn would have been expensive, and Joseph, as a carpenter, wasn't wealthy. Why wouldn't they have stayed with a family member? Translation of the word we read as 'inn' might rather have been 'guest room,' so they may very well have stayed with Joseph's extended family. And, in fact, it would have been an act of compassion to put Mary and Joseph in the 'stable' so they would have privacy during childbirth. Childbirth at that time rendered a home ritually unclean. The stable was not a wooden barn depicted in creche scenes; rather the 'stable' was really a cave underneath the house to protect the animals. This scene is also very humbling showing God's good news can come first to the lowly and poor (i.e. shepherds who were the lowest of the low on the socioeconomic ladder).
The visit by the Magi (who were probably members of a priestly class within the Zoroastrian religion from Persia/Iran) and therefore foreigners teaches us to treat those of other faiths with respect and honor as the Magi did Jesus. The author makes the point that he doesn't 'believe all faiths are equally valid but there are 'points of connection' and we are all 'seeking to find the light of God's love and grace.' (p. 124)
When Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt, they become refugees. This is a very timely issue in light of the world wide refugee issue in today's world.
Joseph, 'whose life and faith are a picture of faithfulness and whose love guarded and shaped Jesus,' might also shape us. (p. 138)

[JD Waggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me preface this by saying I have a Washington-Monument-sized bias about any Adam Hamilton book. He's a lovely human, we're in the same denomination, I deeply appreciate the way he uses his platform as pastor of the largest UM church in the US--and he churns out 18 books a year and they're all half-formed ideas that I can write when I wake up on a post-it note. His books are incredibly shallow because he really does write one like, every five months or something. It means they're incredibly popular in church small groups because they have roughly the mental impact of a Wikipedia article and it drives me up the wall that so many of my parishioners in various churches love his writing almost precisely because they can read it over coffee before church having not considered anything about it throughout the week.

With that glaring caveat in mind, I am unsurprisingly unimpressed by this. Which is unfortunate, because I love Joseph; I love the whole concept of Joseph, and the bravery and loyalty of him, and the weirdness of what history has done to in some way retcon his place in Jesus' life. Hamilton gets into both the Biblical and historical context and does it well, but again in a back-of-the-cereal-box-tidbit kind of way. This felt like the sidebars in my Just for Teens Study Bible rather than a book I would willingly choose for an adult faith study. (I didn't willingly choose it, for the record. I own it because I was an associate and the person leading the class chose it.)

Would I recommend this? If you're brand-new to the idea of Joseph and his place in the birth narrative of Christ, sure--be aware that it's by a Christian marketed to Christians, so it gets devotional-y and that might be grating if you're not there. If you've done any study and are looking for some meat on these bones? Nah. Find something else.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam Hamilton (2017) FAITHFUL - CHRISTMAS THROUGH THE EYES OF JOSEPH (AUDIOBOOK)
Audible - Blackstone Audio, Inc.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 out of 5 stars

Audible writes, "From his beginnings as a humble carpenter to his all-important role as the earthly father of Jesus Christ, Joseph's place in the nativity story is sometimes overlooked but contains valuable lessons for all of us. Join Adam Hamilton as he examines Christmas through the eyes of Joseph. Absent from much of the biblical narrative, Joseph never spoke a word, but his courageous actions were crucial to the birth of Christ and God's salvation plan for humanity. After listening to this audiobook, you will understand how Joseph's story is much like our own. In life, we encounter circumstances that we would never have chosen for ourselves. At times it can be tempting just to walk away. Joseph provides us with a great example of humbly obeying God, even when we don't understand, and faithfully moving forward in the strength that God provides. Exchange your doubt for courage this Advent and Christmas season. Learn to accept and glorify God's will even when circumstances make it difficult to do so."
=====
Heavy on the Our Lord, God stuff but duh, the clue is in the title. Not an uninteresting listen to be fair.
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[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational and Reassuring

We're in the season of Advent that prepares us for Christmas, so why not learn more about Joseph, Jesus' earthly father (stepfather, adoptive father)—Joseph the spouse of Jesus' mother Miriam/Mary? Pastor Adam Hamilton has written another insightful and interesting scripture-related book; as usual, he doesn't talk down to readers, but also makes sure it's mostly easy to comprehend. I enjoyed the historical background at the start of this short book; it included information about non-canonical sources, and speculation on what might have been happening based upon that cultural context. Hamilton brings in some of his own experience as a pastor and a dad, but doesn't overwhelm the pages by making it too much about himself.

In retelling what we know of Joseph's story from scripture and imagining what might have happened, Faithful shows many ways people, events, creation's needs and God's mercy-filled love weave together to unsettle the status qho(s) and recreate a redemptive whole. Inspirational and reassuring, Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph is just in time for the longest night of the year, just in time to celebrate Jesus' nativity in the church and in the world, because this is one season the world out there has some idea of what the church happens to be about.

As for many books from Abingdon, you can purchase an entire series of products related to this book by Adam Hamilton to assist in your study of Joseph.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focus is on taking journeys you don't want to take in your life. Little is really known for sure about Joseph, the "earthly father" of Jesus. He also compares the different birth stories in Matthew and Luke and challenges the faithful to discover why they may be different. Hamilton takes you through possible scenarios of the difficulties Joseph must have faced when taking on this challenge and asks each of us how taking the journeys that we haven't wanted to take affect our lives and faith. I read as part of a study group so we also used the video and teachers guide which also had some additional insightful and interesting ways to think about Joseph. Book is worth reading on his own, the additional resources are just icing on the cake.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't even know how to rate this. So I am leaving it middle of the road.

While there was some historical context provided, a lot of what he said is speculation. A couple things I just plain disagree with. To be fair, its not like I went to Bible College.

Not a whole lot of depth. I really wanted to learn more about Joseph and to be honest I didn't learn many new things. It was more trying to apply it to us in the modern day. For example, "Joseph took in a child that wasn't his and we need to make sure we are nuturing to our youth too." While I agree with that, at the same time I wish we just stayed on track about Joseph.

I'm not writing off this author entirely. I would like to try another one of his books. It's just I didn't get what I was expecting in this book.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an agnostic Jew, I am not the intended audience for this book which very much assumes it is being read by church-attending Christians. But I was still interested in looking at the Nativity story with a focus on Joseph, since his story has always struck me as underexplored.

I was very interested by the historical bits of this work. I didn't know for example that Joseph has been portrayed as an elderly man who married a much younger woman and as a young man who married a woman nearer his own age in different eras. I'll definitely be looking for more works about Joseph.

The rest was a mixture of personal stories and inspirational essays drawing from Joseph's story. I was less interested in that part, but thought the author brought sincerity and his authentic self to the telling.

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, easy read that provides much contemplation. I appreciated the new insights into the life of Joseph, whom we hear very little about in the Bible. In addition, Rev. Hamilton delves into the marriage and divorce traditions, the required census used not only for population count, but for income and property taxes, the logistics of a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the significance of the angels and dreams, the innkeeper, the shepherds, and the magi. He covers much territory in this small book and provides a lot of food for thought. He accomplishes much by comparing traditions with the Biblical stories, and through it all we end up with a better understanding of Joseph and his role.

[Deb Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book believing it would be a narrative of the first Christmas as told by Joseph. It wasn't at all what I expected. Instead, it was a deep insight into what Joseph's role was in the life of Jesus, with his worries and doubts in taking on this tremendous task. The author researched the ancient culture applying that knowledge to his impressions of the man God entailed with raising His only son. So little is actually known of Joseph, even his age has been brought into question. Yet, reading this book helps understand the man. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the Holy Family.

[Fr. Edward Looney · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Roman Catholic theologian I appreciated reading this book by a Protestant pastor. For any Catholics who read this book, be warned that the presentation of Mary's perpetual virginity in the book is not consonant with our Catholic belief. There may be a few aspects that would confuse Catholics. Nevertheless, there are other parts of the book that exude Catholic thought. I appreciated the author's respect for the Catholic tradition. What Hamilton does is make Joseph accessible to the common person. He does a very good job at making Joseph relatable.

[Traci · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like leaving negative reviews because, as an author myself, I know that real effort and work went into their production. The reason for this review, though, is both as a service to other pastors who may be considering this work, and also as a comparison to other Adam Hamilton works, which I have truly enjoyed and found to be *excellent* for community use. I used both "The Last Week" as well as "Half Truths" with congregations, and I found them to be great and super meaningful.

This is a very clear detour for Hamilton and Abingdon.... not sure what happened here.

[Bert Stanaland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus? I never really thought that much about the man because there just isn't much about him in the gospels, but I am so glad that Adam Hamilton took it upon himself to write this book about a very important person. Someone commented that Joseph always looked so old in the paintings that you see of him and Mr. Hamilton explained all that. Even though this is a short book there is a lot of history and tradition packed between the covers. I highly recommend it.

[Daniel Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good information for a general Church Bible study but in his attempts to reach a wide group of people, especially men, the book had many subtle (maybe not so subtle) sexist tropes in portraying Joseph.

His discussion of "angels in our lives" really bothered me too but that's probably a personal thing. Conflating angels with humans the way he does just plays into the whole "God needed another angel" mentality that can be particularly harmful during grief.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many popular Biblical stories are missing important details and the birth of Jesus is no exception. The author uses the Apocrypha and other ancient texts to draw some conclusions that do not follow the mainstream ideas. Along with his interpretation of this biblical story, Adam adds some thoughts to ponder about our current culture and attitudes we have. If you are looking for something different to read this holiday season, then Faithful just might be the answer.

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting perspective, seeing Christmas through the eyes of Joseph. Hamilton brings out a lot of interesting things that might be a little different from what we are used to believing about the Christmas scene. Was Joseph an older man or younger man? Was there an innkeeper in the story? Was it a barn where Jesus was born? Always lots to thing about when Adam Hamilton writes his studies. And he has visited this area many times so he adds validity to his writings.

[Bob Mendelsohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved hearing the birth narrative from Joseph’s side of the family. It was encouraging and insightful.

Why only four stars? I thought Adam’s need to accept other religious folks missed the mark. The magi are not involved to remind us of other religions but rather to showcase that even Persian gentiles could find the saviour and become friends of God. In their far-away state they were not ok. Only by making Jesus to be their #1 are they acceptable.

Other than that, the book is great.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hamilton certainly made me think (and think differently) about the stories of Jesus' birth and life I've been reading forever. I have a real appreciation now for Joseph - a guy who didn't even get a speaking part - and the role he played. I especially appreciated Hamilton's history lessons about the marriage customs, Roman census, and geography of ancient Israel.

[Meghan L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long held an interest in the nativity story, and especially in Joseph. He is an unsung hero in the story of Jesus, and this book does a wonderful job of taking texts and surmising more about Joseph. I really enjoyed reading this, and if not for reading it as an advent challenge, it would have taken me hardly any time to read the whole thing.

[Kevin Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had read this before Hamilton's fantastic book 'The Journey,' I would have enjoyed it more. I didn't get much new from this little book, although it would be a worthwhile read if you're new to the covered topics. This was a good effort at coveting an important man about whom little in the Bible is written.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The man reading the audiobook had such a soothing, lovely voice and intonation, I loved listening to it.
I wanted this to be more about research and historical info, and less like a modern sermon where the pastor was always looking for tenuous modern applications of everything. Had a few interesting bits, but for an already short book, it felt like mostly filler and tangents.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book about a man that was shown and said little, it is sure powerful! I had never given Joseph much thought, given how heavily ancient text focus on the men in families but he is truly an unknown. We can infer much through actions though, such as his ending his engagement with Mary quietly and then again when he marries her. Now I wish I could know more!

[Jane Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't hear much about Joseph in the Bible and this book gives us a different insight as to how he may have felt raising a child that wasn't his. Was he a young man or was he much older than Mary? Who were Jesus's brother's and sister's ? This is a fast read book and now I have the DVD to watch.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Christian minister reviews what we know about Joseph; what may be true about Joseph; how Jewish law, customs, culture, and traditions would have affected Joseph; how we can apply Joseph's story to our lives; and how some experiences we can relate to may help us understand how Joseph dealt with his experiences. Well written and inspiring.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fathers have taken a beating over the past few decades, but Hamilton shows us how important fathers are. Joseph was a role model for “his son” and he provided for, guided, and taught Jesus. Joseph was the earthly father and God was the Heavenly Father. Perhaps we can return to recognizing how important fathers are both to the child on earth and the child’s spiritual needs.

[Garry D Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and Thoughtful

I confess that I am oftentimes not a huge fan of Adam Hamilton's take on Christian theology; however, this book does a great job of exploring Joseph's perspective of the Nativity of Christ. Hamilton is insightful, and his necessary conjecture is well-reasoned. I highly recommend this book.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my Advent Bible study and I really enjoyed the book. I am looking forward to reading the Leader Guide and seeing the DVD and then of course, the discussion with my class. I really enjoy Adam Hamilton's writings.