The Other Person in the Picture

“The volume offers a valuable engagement with a figure in the New Testament who has been overlooked at times: Joseph. It captures the significance of Joseph in the New Testament, art, and beyond.”


—David Ray Johnson, Regents Theological College





“Jacobs illuminates a remarkably overlooked topic, the curious treatment of Joseph the carpenter in art depicting the holy family. This is a story that has been hiding in plain sight for five hundred years. Jacobs vividly details the consistent downgrading of Joseph in paintings and sculptures through the centuries and explains how this came to be.”


—Donald Furst, University of North Carolina Wilmington





“The Other Person in the Picture is a compelling investigation of Jesus’s earthly father. Jacobs walks the reader through a step-by-step analysis of Joseph’s life and relationship with his son, unraveling the story of why God chose Joseph to parent Jesus and lay a spiritual foundation so that, when God chose, Jesus could assume his role as Savior. By the end, the reader will recognize Joseph as God’s exemplar of fatherhood that we still need today.”


—Maria J. Cahill, Husson University