This trilogy is a beautiful and timely reissue - I will definitely recommend them to patrons who voice a curiosity about faith and theology. They aren't for everyone, but for those patrons who have read and enjoyed the likes of C.S. Lewis, L'Engle's musings on Genesis are a way to make an ancient text feel timeless and relevant.

First sentence: He was a spoiled brat, Joseph, the eleventh brother. Indulged, self-indulgent, selfish. He clung to his father and the women. Whined. Got his own way. If one of the wives said no, another would surely say yes. When he was crossed he wailed that he had no mother.

Premise/plot: Sold Into Egypt completes Madeleine L'Engle's Genesis trilogy. (And It Was Good; Stone for A Pillow). The book is a blend of memoir and biblical fiction. Sold Into Egypt is a memoir in that Madeleine L'Engle is reflecting on her life, specifically her GRIEF over losing her husband, Hugh. She's also sharing her spiritual reflections on what it means to live, to die, to be human. Sold Into Egypt is biblical fiction in that within each chapter--or most of the chapters--L'Engle speculates on the last chapters of Genesis. She presents accounts from different points of view.

My thoughts: I've mentioned it before, but, it's always worth mentioning again: L'Engle's theology is dangerous. Her theology is not devoid of all truth. And, at times, she speaks the unadulterated truth. But most of the time, the "truth" is filtered through her all-too-human-lens of what is right and what is wrong in her own eyes, in her own reckoning. And God as revealed in the written Word, the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the Scriptures that are not to be added to or subtracted from does not match L'Engle's God. And so when given the choice to believe God's Own Revelation of Himself and her own idea of God, she goes with her own idea of God. L'Engle claiming that the Bible was never meant to be static, and that God is always changing, that "I AM" really means "I will be what I will be." Here's the thing: we all have a choice to make. No matter who we are, how we've been raised, how seasoned or experienced we are "in the faith." When our thoughts are in conflict with the Word of God, what will we do--who will we trust?! Will we trust the Word of God even when it doesn't seem right to us? even when it conflicts with what we want to do, with what we want to believe? even when it conflicts with our comfort zone? L'Engle is an advocate of the theory the Bible only has meaning when we--the reader--read it. And that meaning changes reader to reader. The Bible means what it means to us at that moment in time. What it means to me today is not what the Bible meant to me two decades ago. And of course my Bible is going to be different from your Bible because we're two different people! I hope you can see that L'Engle is dangerous, and dangerous precisely because she's not alone in her madness.

The three books are a product of her times. All three were written in the eighties. All three were written in the midst of the Cold War. All three deal with "current news" and "current politics."

Sold into Egypt

Journeys into Human Being
by Madeleine L’Engle

Crown Publishing

Convergent Books
Christian

Pub Date 23 May 2017

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy of Sold Into Egypt through Crown Publishing/Convergent Books and Netgalley:

In the third and final book of the Genesis trillogy Madeline L Engle asks if Joseph- the deserted son Jacob is relevant in our modern era, the answer is yes because many of us like Joseph we have faced trials, tribulations and loss.

I give Sold Into Egypt five out of five stars.
Happy Reading