Jesus' Transfiguration & the Believers' Transformation: A Study of the Transfiguration and Its Development in Early Christian Writings
Simon S. Lee. Mohr Siebeck, 2009
"Simon Lee examines Jesus' transfiguration story found in the narrative account of Mark, tracing the development of its multiple readings through the first two centuries of the Christian era. The transfiguration story is especially interesting for the study of early Christianity, since the story reveals Jesus' divine glory in his lifetime. This study pays special attention to texts in which Peter is described as being the main witness to the event - the Synoptic Gospels, 2 Peter, Apocalypse of Peter and Acts of Peter . It also analyzes 2 Corinthians 3, where Paul explains believers' transformation on the basis of the comparison between Jesus' glory and Moses' glory. In comparing Paul's account with that of Mark, this study shows that there are some common theological patterns or ideas behind their accounts and that both inherited certain views from early Jesus traditions."
Lee argues that the synoptic Transfiguration story is "closely related to the Olivet discourse [Mark 13, Matthew 24, & Luke 21 aka 'the Little Apocalypse' or 'the Synoptic Apocalypse'] because the Olivet discourse further explains Jesus' prediction of 'the Son of Man's' coming and his judgement at the Parousia" (p.148).
He notes the Apocalyse of Peter, in chapters 15-17, emphasizes one of the implications of the Transfiguration is that the Transfigured form of Jesus is what the righteous believers are expected to acquire as their vindication by 'the son of Man'.
Lee then explores whether the Apocalypse of Peter could refer to the Bar Kochba revolt or to other early 2nd-century revolts
"The Gospel parables of the budding fig tree and the barren fig tree, partly selected from the parousia of Matthew 24,[10] appear only in the Ethiopic version [of the Apocalypse of Peter] (ch. 2). The two parables are joined, and the setting "in the summer" has been transferred to "the end of the world", in a detailed allegory in which the tree becomes Israel, and the flourishing shoots [represent] Jews who have adopted Jesus as Messiah and achieve martyrdom."
10 The canonic New Testament context of this image is discussed under Figs in the Bible; Richard Bauckham, [in] "The Two Fig Tree Parables in the Apocalypse of Peter", Journal of Biblical Literature 104.2 (June 1985:269–287), shows correspondences with wording of the Matthean text that does not appear in the parallel passages in the synoptic gospels of Mark and Luke.
