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Mary W. Helms 
Anthropos 1O1.200 6 
understood by a populace whose Christianity was 
strongly informed by earlier non-Christian person 
ages, rites, and beliefs and who accepted the pres 
ence of the marvelous on an everyday basis. 56 For 
that matter, in the New Testament, the apocryphal 
accounts, and the early church in general, Jesus 
himself was regarded not just as a divinity but also 
as a miracle-working magician and thaumaturge, 
contributing to the rise, thorough entrenchment, 
and prominence throughout the early Middle Ages 
of “a Christian form of wonder.” 57 
Joseph’s typological characteristics presumably 
were also significantly influenced by the overall 
Germanization of Christianity which eventually be 
came normative (and especially influential as folk 
religion) throughout much of early medieval Eu 
rope (Russell 1994). Among other features, the 
Germanic impact on Latin Catholicism fostered 
not only a heavily magico-religious perspective but 
also a heroic, power-oriented ethos and worldview 
that emphasized human life, temporal powers, and 
rewards in this world and respect for nature’s pow 
erful and equivocal forces. Germanic Christian 
ity also was greatly concerned with the historical 
drama of Christ’s earthly life and focused on the 
power of the Christ-God to effect this-worldly life 
more than on eschatological concerns and soterio- 
logical aspirations (Russell 1994: 6f., 17, 23,188f.; 
Le Goff 1977: 173 f.). Orthodox Latin Christianity, 
of course, had a different focus. In terms of Joseph- 
related symbolism, as we have seen, the aspect of 
Joseph’s smithing that appealed to patristic fathers 
mainly involved the powerful metaphorical im 
agery provided by metallurgy’s transformation by 
fire wherein raw, imperfect earthly matter could be 
changed into a new and purified substance of value, 
analog for the overwhelming change that awaits the 
faithful, who will ultimately be transformed and re 
deemed from sinful physicality to cleansed spiritual 
perfection and eventual eternal life. 
In contrast, it seems reasonable to suggest that, 
as a more worldly Germanic-Christian context de 
veloped, the metaphorical emphasis of transforma 
tion by fire would have shifted from the ultimate 
56 Barb (1963: 107, 115, 123); Flint (1991): Boenig (2000); 
Jones (1963; 18-20); Chaney (1967); Russell (1994). 
57 Flint (1991:33); Smith (1978); Herren and Brown (2002: 
160-165, 173 f.). “Good” magic (miracles or mysteries) was 
understood to further the relationship between people and 
the supernatural in positive terms that improved human life. 
Magic to control weather, solve everyday problems, or ef 
fect cures was acknowledged and sometimes even practiced 
by Christian clergy, though many church spokesmen disap 
proved (Barb 1963: 106f.; Hillgarth 1980:47; Flint 1991; 
Eamon 1983: 181). 
soteriological and eschatological perspective that 
ends the process to greater concern with the raw 
material that begins both the salvational and the 
metallurgical transformational processes. In other 
words, Germanic Christianity may have particu 
larly emphasized the earthly (material) pole of the 
matter - transformation - spirit continuum. If so, 
Joseph as blacksmith would connote not only cre 
ational Master of Fire but also chthonic Master of 
Matter (Vries 1974:51), an interpretation in ac 
cord, too, with long-standing Germanic and Ger 
manic Christian interest in the supernatural pow 
ers accorded material objects, such as the magical 
swords, spears, helmets, etc. that legendary smiths 
could craft (e.g., Russell 1994: 43). 
If Joseph as a smith were to become particu 
larly associated with the materiality of his craft, 
it is easy to extend his general identification with 
matter beyond occupation to later medieval themes 
in which he is related to symbols referencing ma 
teriality per se or appears as earthly Everyman bur 
dened with humanity’s foibles, failures, and physi 
cal weaknesses. 58 However, a connection with mat 
ter is also strongly implied in some of the symbolic 
meanings long accorded the raw materials with 
which Joseph was always associated as a crafts 
man: wood and iron. 
Base Matter: Wood and Iron 
To identify Joseph as a craftsman in some form of 
hard material is to place him in company with all 
the artisans, including smiths, heralded in Ecclesi 
asticus as “maintain [ing] the fabric of the world’ 
(38.34). In the Near East, Mediterranean region, 
and traditional Europe, wood and iron in particular 
long maintained that fabric as raw materials essen 
tial to human survival. 59 Wood was so fundamen 
tal a substance that it signified matter in general 
in the ancient world; the Greek word for “matter 
(hyle; that which was given form in the universe) 
was simply the word for wood or lumber 60 and 
the Latin term materia (matter, material, stuff of 
58 Possibly a somewhat parallel process may have encouraged 
a change from an earlier identification of Joseph as mastei 
builder or overseer, suggestive of God as a divine désigner 
as in Ulfila’s Gothic translation of the gospels (see note 20), 
to his later medieval portrayal as a domestically-orienteo 
woodworker with modest in-home workshop. See, for ex 
ample, Hahn (1986: 55); Stratton-Pruitt (2002: 33, 34, 43)- 
59 Forbes (1958:14-22); Glacken (1967:318-325, 3361)’ 
Meiggs (1982). 
60 Doresse (1960:80, n. 23); Bultmann (1956:128); Srnit 
(1968: 639); see also Sambursky (1956).