“The NTVMR is the Beating Heart of Our Work”

Anyone working with the Greek New Testament and its manuscript tradition will sooner or later encounter the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF) in Münster. It is here that Gregory Paulson, textual critic and co‑editor of the major scholarly edition the Editio Critica Maior (ECM) and assistant to committee of the Nestle‑Aland, pursues his research. In this conversation, he discusses his academic background, the transformative impact of digital tools in textual scholarship, and, above all, the role of the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room (NTVMR), which he describes as “the beating heart of our work”.

From Scribal Habits to Digital Humanities

Paulson began his academic journey in the United States, studying Greek and the New Testament before completing his PhD at the University of Edinburgh on scribal habits in early manuscripts. “Once I started working directly with manuscripts, I knew I wanted to dedicate my career to this,” he explains. A postdoctoral position at the INTF brought him into the center of critical edition work, including revising the apparatus for the forthcoming 29th edition of the Nestle‑Aland and contributing to the Kurzgefasste Liste, the authoritative catalogue of all known Greek New Testament manuscripts.

A Digital Workspace for Manuscript Research

The New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room has grown far beyond its early purpose as a place to view manuscript images. Today, it is a comprehensive open-access research environment, offering:

high‑resolution manuscript images;
digital transcriptions that can be viewed, exported, corrected, or improved;
collaborative workspaces;
tools for tagging, indexing, and comparing textual or paleographic features;
and advanced search functions for navigating thousands of manuscripts.

“All user contributions are immediately visible to everyone,” Paulson emphasizes. “It’s truly collaborative. The images and transcriptions are the beating heart of the NTVMR. This is the data that researchers want to see.”

Minutes Instead of Months

Paulson illustrates how the NTVMR has revolutionized his own workflow. “If I want to compare how the Greek letter alpha appears in manuscripts before the year 500, I can find that instantly. In the past, that kind of investigation could take months.” The tool is also invaluable in identifying previously unknown manuscripts: by comparing scripts, researchers can sometimes determine that a newly surfaced page actually belongs to an already catalogued manuscript.

Open Access as a Fundamental Condition

For Paulson, open access is no luxury but a fundamental condition for progress: “We simply couldn’t do our work without freely accessible data and tools.” While images often remain under copyright, all textual data – transcriptions, indexing, user annotations – is openly available. An API even allows developers to integrate data into their own projects.

Why NTVMR Belongs in RESILIENCE

Paulson is pleased that RESILIENCE intends to include the NTVMR in its future services catalogue. “The more researchers use the tool, the better we can adapt it to their needs.” At the same time, he stresses a crucial challenge: long‑term maintenance. “Creating digital tools is one thing; keeping them functional for decades is the real struggle.”

New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room