Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration

Jesus metamorphosed. Celebrities from the past. Petrified disciples. Luminous cloud. An event as important as Christmas or Easter!

Are you a preacher wondering what you can possibly say new and interesting on Transfiguration this year-to say nothing of all the Transfigurations that lie ahead of you?

Are you an everyday believer curious to learn more about this holiday celebrated every year, yet somehow overlooked and ignored?

Are you hooked on weird theological terms, intrigued by the fact that "transfiguration" is Latin for the Greek "metamorphosis" (as in butterflies and Kafka), and love to explore every wild and woolly corner of the Bible?

Are you tired of Peter always getting bashed for offering to build booths?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration needs to be at the top of your reading list!

The seven ways:

1. Metamorphosis: Jesus

2. Eschaton: Elijah

3. Exodus: Moses

4. Tabernacles: Israel

5. Eyewitnesses: Peter, James, and John

6. Cloud: God the Father

7. Parousia: My Son, My Beloved

Questions about the Transfiguration answered in the book:

+ What can it possibly mean for the eternal Lord to be transfigured, metamorphosed-changed?

+ Why does Luke delete the word "transfigured" from his version of the, um, well, Transfiguration?

+ Why does only Jesus' clothing change in Mark's Gospel, but his face, too, in Matthew and Luke?

+ Why was it Moses and Elijah, out of all possible Old Testament figures, who met with Jesus on the mountaintop? (Not because they represent "the law and the prophets"!)

+ Which mountain was it, anyway?

+ Why were Peter, James, and John the only disciples invited to see the Transfiguration?

+ Why was it so offensive for Peter to offer to build three booths for the three famous men? (Not because he was a babbling idiot!)

+ Why does God speak to Jesus at his Baptism and his Transfiguration, but not at his Resurrection?

+ Why doesn't the Gospel of John have a Transfiguration story? (Or does it?)

+ Why doesn't St. Paul talk about the Transfiguration? (Or does he?)

+ Why does Second Peter, of all oddball little epistles, talk about the Transfiguration?

+ Will we be transfigured someday, too?

+ What essential thing does the Transfiguration tell us about Jesus that his Resurrection does not?