Established in 1964 with the goal of developing handbooks on ancient Jewish sources for the study of the New Testament and early Christianity, the Foundation Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum (CRINT) realized a significant part of this original agenda with the publication of the first part of The Literature of the Sages in 1987. This handbook, edited by Shmuel Safrai (with executive editor Peter J. Tomson), focused on halakhic literature. It was followed in 2006 by a second part that discussed aggadic, midrashic and related literature, edited by Shmuel Safrai, Zeev Safrai, Joshua Schwartz, and Peter J. Tomson.
The Foundation now celebrates a new, essential and timely contribution to the CRINT project with the appearance of The Literature of the Sages: A Re-visioning, edited by Christine Hayes. Much has changed since the initial work in 1987 with new theoretical approaches being developed within interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary contexts. Placing itself in the midst of these developments, the present volume offers the reader a cutting-edge introduction to the study of rabbinic literature. The essays, some continuing important discussions begun many years ago, consistently generate fresh insights into many aspects of the study of rabbinic literature.
With the publication of this volume, the Foundation reaches a new milestone in its mission to further scholarly analysis of the historical, religious and cultural ties that connect Judaism and Christianity and the worlds which they inhabit. We express our heartfelt appreciation to Professor Hayes for her remarkable wisdom and extraordinary tenacity, without which this scholarly endeavor could not have been accomplished.
Board of the CRINT Foundation:
Eric Ottenheijm (president), Matthijs den Dulk (secretary), Christiaan Oberman (treasurer), Leo Mock, Kineret Sittig.