You don’t have to read long before the name Stephen Mitchell starts showing up as a translator of sacred texts. Over the years he’s taken a run at translating or adapting Genesis, Job and Psalms, and he’s also given us “The Gospel According to Jesus.”

You get the feeling Mitchell would love to be on the receiving end of holy scripture itself; but like Antonio Salieri jotting down Mozart’s dictations, he knows he’s destined to get everything secondhand.

Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness” is Mitchell’s latest attempt to cozy up as close as he can to sacred writ. He gives the story of Joseph and his brothers a refurbishing — a story Leo Tolstoy called “the most beautiful in the world.”

In the opening line, the narrator describes the book as a midrash.

A midrash is an ancient commentary on the Hebrew scriptures that — through new stories and fresh examples — attempts to update and expand on holy teachings. The best have a sweep and power akin to scripture itself.

In fact, Mitchell says he has Jewish friends who see the Book of Mormon itself as a modern midrash.

But that’s a topic for another time.

Today we’re taking on Mitchell’s “Joseph” and the author’s attempt to lay claim to the midrash tradition.

Having read much about the book online, I went out of my way recently to hear Mitchell read from it at a Pasadena, California, bookstore.

And the book does give the story of Joseph and his famous coat a new look.

Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness” is by “Stephen Mitchell.” | Macmillan

To begin with, Mitchell startles with a surprise in every short chapter (there are 103 chapters). For instance, in Mitchell’s version, when Joseph huddles bruised and bloody in the pit before his brothers sell him off as a slave, Joseph doesn’t feel wronged. He feels remorseful. He regrets having been so filled with pride. If he’d been more humble, he’d be a free man.

And when Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, rather than write her off as a “brazen hussy” — as many commentators do — Mitchell presents her as a woman with issues, a woman whose suffering has driven her to extreme, self-destructive acts. She’s to be pitied, not hated.

“When you go home tonight, take this thought with you,” Mitchell told the gathering. “Forgiveness is realizing that what you thought really happened, didn’t.”

In other words, what we see and think is misbehavior melts away when we understand the histories of the people involved. For example, we curse the driver on the freeway who passes us at 100 miles per hour, but once we learn he’s rushing to the hospital to be with his injured child, our anger fades into caring.

View Comments

“The stories in Genesis go deep,” Mitchell said. “If you take them on their surface, as literal, you’re going to end up an angry atheist or an angry theist.”

So, if you find any of this intriguing, Mitchell’s book is on bookstore shelves waiting to be digested. Have at it.

As for that business about the Book of Mormon being a midrash, well, let me noodle that notion for a spell before responding.

Email: jerjohn@deseretnews.com

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.