Tee transfiguration of Jesus and the early church

Abstract

This thesis la concerned with the theological significance of the Transfiguration of –Jesus. It is an attempt to put into a true perspective an event in the earthly life of Jesus which is too often ignored and misunderstood. It seeks to establish the importance of the transfiguration in the ministry of Jesus, within the Early Church, and in the general framework of New Testament expectation. As well as the three, synoptic accounts of the Transfiguration, the account record in 2 Peter is also analysed. Here, we argue, lies a reference to the transfiguration which is authentically petrine (though used in this Epistle by a pseudonymous author) and which may well have influenced the Evangelists when they reported the same event. The context of the Transfiguration in 2 Peter 1.l6-l8 is that of an apology for the delay of the Parousia, which the Early Church, it would seem, had expected immediately after the ascension. We argue that the 2 Peter account could, therefore, be the primitive, Petrine reminiscence of the Apostle Peter, recorded by an unknown author to make his work appear more authentic. The context of the Transfiguration within 2 Peter and, therefore, in the Early Church, would seen to be that of a prefiguratlon of all that will take place when Christ appears again in glory. Each of the synoptic writers were undoubtedly aware of this understanding of the of the Transfiguration tradition as they, in turn, moulded the narrative into their Gospel narratives. In all three synoptic accounts, the parallelism between Baptism and Transfiguration, the placing of the account near to events at caesares, Philippi, and the Importance of MK .9.1 (and parallels), points to a simple and yet a crucial development within the Gospels of the understanding of the early church concerning the Transfiguration of Jesus. The Transfiguration was a prefiguration of the parousia of Jesus.