Yochanan Muffs (June 3, 1932 - December 6, 2009) was an American professor of the Bible and religion at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
He did his undergraduate degree in Humanities at Queens College and studied for the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he began teaching in 1954.
[3] Muffs made major contributions in biblical studies, Semitic languages, the history of the ancient Near East, and Jewish religion and thought.
"[6] In Love and Joy: Law, Language and Religion in Ancient Israel, Muffs writes about the core task of the prophet in the Israelite tradition: The Israelite prophet is given explicit directions from God, but is also "an independent advocate...attempting to mitigate the severity of the decree.
"[7] In his review of The Personhood of God, Bishop Krister Stendahl of Harvard Divinity School says the book "embraces unashamedly the ways the Bible pictures God as a person with all the traits of human psychology and even anatomy...and shows convincingly how it enriches both faith and theology, not least by liberating the readers from the stultifying literal readings of the sacred texts.