Hebrew-Script New Testament: 43 Manuscripts and a Rediscovered Textual World

This presentation introduces a verified census of 43 New Testament manuscript witnesses written in Hebrew script, moving the discussion beyond the best-known Hebrew Matthew tradition associated with Shem Tov. Taken together, these witnesses reveal a considerably broader and more complex textual landscape than is often assumed when the subject of the New Testament in Hebrew is discussed.

The presentation focuses on the identification, documentation, and classification of these manuscript witnesses and on the methodological problems involved in determining their provenance, textual relationships, translation history, and place within the wider transmission of New Testament texts.

Rather than treating all Hebrew-script New Testament manuscripts as a single textual tradition, the study approaches them as distinct witnesses that must be identified, documented, and examined individually and comparatively.

Particular attention is given to what a verified manuscript census can — and cannot — establish. Bibliographic and manuscript evidence must be distinguished carefully from broader claims concerning textual priority, textual dependence, translation history, or original language.

By bringing together 43 identified witnesses within a single research framework, the presentation opens a larger field for the study of Hebrew-script New Testament transmission, Jewish-Christian textual history, translation, manuscript culture, and the reception of New Testament writings in Hebrew-reading environments.

Pamela Lutzker is an independent scholar and manuscript researcher based in San José, California, United States, whose work includes Hebrew-script New Testament manuscripts, textual transmission, translation, manuscript documentation, and the organization and preservation of textual evidence.

She has been associated with the Manuscript Research Institute (MRI), where she served as President from June 2024 to June 2025 and worked across areas connected with manuscript research, organizational procedures, translation processes, and publication activities.

Lutzker is also associated with the Society of Biblical Literature and has experience in translation coordination. Her professional work has included multilingual translation activity connected with A Rood Awakening International and The Chronological Gospels.

Her academic and professional training at San José State University included areas related to information analysis, database design, metadata, records management, archival systems, information governance, data mining, and information preservation. These areas intersect directly with the systematic identification, organization, documentation, and preservation of manuscript evidence.

She has also been credited as a translator of Epistle of James (Ya'akov): A Translation from the Hebrew.

Her current research project, "Beyond Shem Tov: A Verified Census of Hebrew-Script New Testament Manuscripts," systematically identifies and documents a corpus of 43 New Testament manuscript witnesses written in Hebrew script. The project seeks to establish a more systematic foundation for studying the manuscript landscape beyond the widely known Shem Tov Matthew tradition and for future research into Hebrew New Testament textual transmission.