The Theology of the Transfiguration in the Latin Fathers

Dissertation focuses on the principal theological affirmations of writers in Latin, mainly Church Fathers, about Jesus’ Transfiguration, according to the Synoptic Gospels. After dealing with twelve complete documents on the topic, the Dissertation passes on to what thirty-eight Latin authors have to say about the Transfiguration narratives, whether they allude to it or a part of it, or mention it, or deal with it more thoroughly.

Latin authors discussed did not do a systematic theology about Jesus’ transfiguration. However, their reference to Jesus’ Transfiguration can be systematized, following the ordo lectionis of the Synoptic narratives.  ere are interesting allegorical interpretations about, for example: “tasting” death, the six (or eight) days, the sun and the snow.  e Transfiguration-event, the historicity of which was never questioned by the writers studied, mainly points to: the past (as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy), the present (at the time of Jesus of Nazareth, as a cause for hope just before the Passion, and as an indication of Jesus’ divinity, as the Son beloved by the Father), the future (the reference to the Church as the vestments of Jesus transfigured) and the end (as a foretaste of the coming of the Son of Man in his Kingdom).