St. Joseph and His World

A brilliant, succinct book addressing a broad audience including scholars,clergy or those who just wish for a spiritual retreat with Joseph and the Holy Family. Fascinating details discuss the historical background, the Jewish tradition and the very human elements of the work of a carpenter in the context of the Foster Father-son of God relationship between Jesus and Joseph.This is the very right spiritual and historical book to celebrate the year dedicated to St Joseph. As a permanent deacon I highly recommend this book for group reflection, home groups or retreats.

Great background to St Joseph, leading beautifully into a deeper discovery of the man so important in our story of salvation. St Joseph, pray for us

It was fascinating to learn more about the people, places and time in which St. Joseph lived while courageously caring for Mary and Jesus in total faithfulness to God’s calling in his life. St. Joseph pray for us!

A very insightful read about a very great saint.

In the Bible, St. Joseph says absolutely nothing and is mentioned only a few times. It would be easy to think of him as a dull, kindly, shadowy old man who adds little to salvation history—but Mike Aquilina shows us how wrong that would be.This book lifts the veil from our understanding of Joseph and that ancient world. How was Nazareth created? Why was Bethlehem important? What was daily life like? And who was this man Joseph?He was a devout Jew of the appropriate royal lineage of David, and probably a much younger man than we think. He was often visited by angels and did what they told him to do. He was an esteemed craftsman; in the book, we learn about his physically challenging work life. And he was brave and fiercely protective of his family against his greatest enemy—the world’s greatest enemy at that moment in time—King Herod.Herod has a major supporting role in this book. The details of his life, actions, and personality arranged before us by Aquilina bring Herod alive, too, and trust me, you’ll learn things about him you’ll never be able to forget.Aquilina is author of more than 60 books. There’s a reason his works are so popular with the general public and so highly respected by top experts. His clear, inviting, easily accessible prose rests on a deep foundation of scholarship. Aquilina calls on scholars, historians, and theologians going back more than two thousand years—as well as Jewish prophecies going back much further than that—as he builds for us a three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood St. Joseph in his very real world. As Aquilina says:“Joseph is the prudent man whose thoughts correspond to reality, and whose actions flow from those thoughts. He is the image of God and yet a model for every Christian. He is the one who keeps the constant company of Jesus Christ.”