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Yochanan Muffs grew up in a [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Jewish home]] in [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]], [[Queens]]. His parents were Barney and Mary Muffs. He was married to Yocheved. He succumbed to [[Parkinson's disease]]. <ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/120565/ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead]</ref>
Yochanan Muffs grew up in a [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Jewish home]] in [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]], [[Queens]]. His parents were Barney and Mary Muffs. He was married to Yocheved. He succumbed to [[Parkinson's disease]]. <ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/120565/ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead]</ref>


Muffs made major contributions in biblical studies, Semitic languages, the history of the ancient Near East, and [[Jew]]ish religion and thought. He strove to reach an understanding of biblical text through comparative philological study.<ref>[http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:fqTQbfDI1csJ:www.jewishlights.com/Press%2520Room/PersonhoodofGodPR.htm+yochanan+muffs&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk Is man made in God's image, or is God made in man's?]</ref> His first book, ''Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine'', published in 1969, has been described as a "watershed work." Muffs analyzed legal documents from a colony of Jewish families in fifth century BCE, using comparative evidence from [[Mesopotamian]], [[Egypt]]ian, Jewish and other legal sources to further understanding of life in those days.<ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/120565/ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead]</ref> [[David Hartman (rabbi)|David Hartman]], founder of the Hartman Institute in [[Jerusalem]], described Muffs as a "master of midrashic analysis whose rich theological imagination reveals the gripping realism of the biblical God and the intensity of God’s relationship to human history."<ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/1910/ The Power of the Pen, Masha Leon]</ref>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." <ref>[http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/5762f/yitro.shtml Voices of Learning, 2002]</ref>
Muffs made major contributions in biblical studies, Semitic languages, the history of the ancient Near East, and [[Jew]]ish religion and thought. He strove to reach an understanding of biblical text through comparative philological study.<ref>[http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:fqTQbfDI1csJ:www.jewishlights.com/Press%2520Room/PersonhoodofGodPR.htm+yochanan+muffs&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk Is man made in God's image, or is God made in man's?]</ref> His first book, ''Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine'', published in 1969, has been described as a "watershed work." Muffs analyzed legal documents from a colony of Jewish families in fifth century BCE, using comparative evidence from [[Mesopotamian]], [[Egypt]]ian, Jewish and other legal sources to further understanding of life in those days.<ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/120565/ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead]</ref> [[David Hartman (rabbi)|David Hartman]], founder of the Hartman Institute in [[Jerusalem]], described Muffs as a "master of midrashic analysis whose rich theological imagination reveals the gripping realism of the biblical God and the intensity of God’s relationship to human history."<ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/1910/ The Power of the Pen, Masha Leon]</ref>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." <ref>[http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/5762f/yitro.shtml Voices of Learning, 2002]</ref>Muffs was a fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research. <ref>[http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:HKForWm2-4EJ:www.aajr.org/fellows.html+yohanan+muffs&cd=27&hl=en&ct=clnk American Academy of Jewish Research]</ref>
==Published works==
==Published works==
*''Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine''
*''Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine''

Revision as of 08:51, 13 December 2009

Yochanan Muffs (1932 - December 6, 2009) was an American-Jewish professor of Bible and religion at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

Yochanan Muffs grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Flushing, Queens. His parents were Barney and Mary Muffs. He was married to Yocheved. He succumbed to Parkinson's disease. [1]

Muffs made major contributions in biblical studies, Semitic languages, the history of the ancient Near East, and Jewish religion and thought. He strove to reach an understanding of biblical text through comparative philological study.[2] His first book, Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine, published in 1969, has been described as a "watershed work." Muffs analyzed legal documents from a colony of Jewish families in fifth century BCE, using comparative evidence from Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Jewish and other legal sources to further understanding of life in those days.[3] David Hartman, founder of the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, described Muffs as a "master of midrashic analysis whose rich theological imagination reveals the gripping realism of the biblical God and the intensity of God’s relationship to human history."[4]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." [5]Muffs was a fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research. [6]

Published works

  • Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine
  • Love and Joy: Law, Language, and Religion in Ancient Israel[7]
  • The Personhood of God: Biblical Theology, Human Faith And the Divine Image ISBN: 9781580233385 [8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead
  2. ^ Is man made in God's image, or is God made in man's?
  3. ^ Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, is Dead
  4. ^ The Power of the Pen, Masha Leon
  5. ^ Voices of Learning, 2002
  6. ^ American Academy of Jewish Research
  7. ^ Harvard University Press
  8. ^ Library Thing: The Personhood of God
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