Creed, Confession, and Cooperation
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 67, No. 2 - Spring 2025
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By Patrick Schreiner. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2024, 208 pp., $26.99.
In The Transfiguration of Christ, Patrick Schreiner addresses the often-overlooked event of Jesus’s transfiguration, asserting that the transfiguration reveals Jesus as both the heavenly glorious Son and the earthly suffering messianic Son (4). The book unfolds through a multifaceted approach, weaving together theological, biblical, and spiritual perspectives to offer a comprehensive exploration of the transfiguration. Schreiner seeks to deepen our understanding of the transfiguration by developing a theological grammar rooted in Scripture and Christian tradition, tracing its themes through the broader biblical narrative, and emphasizing its implications for spiritual formation. Schreiner invites readers to see the transfiguration not only as a miraculous historical event but as a transformative reality with profound implications for Christian life and spiritual growth (xiv).
The book is structured around five chapters, each exploring a distinct aspect of the transfiguration: its necessity, setting, signs, sayings, and theological implications. Schreiner argues that the transfiguration holds profound theological meaning and deserves greater attention in Christian thought and practice, as it reveals Jesus’s “double sonship”—His earthly, suffering messianic identity and his preexistent, eternal divine nature (4). In the introduction, Schreiner outlines four key realities which are made clear by the transfiguration: Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the disciples’ future glory amid suffering, the need for the disciples’ ongoing spiritual growth, and the eternal, intra-trinitarian love of God (9–12).
Chapter one examines five reasons for the neglect of the transfiguration (14), including its perceived minor role in Scripture, a focus on the means of salvation over the goal, its mysterious and symbolic nature, an emphasis on earthly matters, and suspicion of deification. Schreiner counters with five reasons to emphasize the transfiguration: it uniquely combines biblical narrative and systematic theology, unites salvation’s means and goal, balances mystery and revelation, connects heaven and earth, and links our glorious future with Jesus’s past (18).
Chapter two explores the transfiguration’s setting, using a fourfold interpretive method (literal, spiritual, tropological, and anagogical) to analyze its timing, mountain location, and the presence of Peter, James, and John (28). According to Schreiner, the literal sense connects the event to Daniel 7, Sinai, and creation, foreshadowing Jesus’s future glory. The mountain symbolizes the meeting of heaven and earth, portraying Jesus as the new Moses and divine presence. The disciples’ fearful response affirms divine glory, while the tropological sense calls believers to spiritual ascent through self-denial. Ultimately, the transfiguration is a theophany, revealing Jesus’s eternal glory and the future unity of heaven and earth (53).
Chapter three focuses on three key signs: Jesus’s shining face and white clothes, the bright cloud, and the appearance of Moses and Elijah. The shining face and garments symbolize heavenly glory and fulfill Old Testament theophanies. The cloud represents the Holy Spirit, emphasizing Trinitarian presence. Moses and Elijah signify the Law and Prophets, affirming Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises and His authority over life and death.
In chapter four, Schreiner analyzes three key sayings. Peter’s suggestion to build tents reflects his misunderstanding of Jesus’s unique sonship and the necessity of His suffering. The Father’s declaration, “This is my beloved Son,” connects to Old Testament texts (Gen 22, Isa 42, Dan 7, Ps 2), affirming Jesus as both the suffering Messiah and the eternal Son. And the command, “Listen to him,” calls believers to heed Jesus’s teachings, establishing Him as the ultimate prophet and mediator.
Chapter five explores the transfiguration’s theological implications for human nature, identity, salvation, and eschatology (129). By examining parallels and contrasts, the chapter highlights the glory lost at the Fall (131), the perfection of the flesh through the incarnation (133), and the foreshadowing of Jesus’s ascension and return (135).
In the conclusion, Schreiner argues that “the light of the transfiguration has been swallowed in the shadow of modern scholarship,” despite its centrality in Jesus’s life and ministry (147). It serves as a crucial link between his Galilean ministry and journey to Jerusalem, connecting his baptism with his crucifixion and revealing the unity of suffering and glory (148). Schreiner contends the transfiguration is both an epiphany (revealing Jesus as God) and an apotheosis (showing his glorification as the Son of Man), confirming his preexistence and divine identity while offering hope to his disciples.
The book has an appendix with a comprehensive bibliography on the transfiguration, including books, dissertations, articles, historical resources, and systematic theologies, offering readers a valuable resource for further study.
Schreiner largely achieves his purpose of deepening our understanding of the transfiguration by offering a thorough exegetical, theological, and historical analysis of the event. The book is structured to address the event from multiple angles: its biblical context, its theological implications, and its relevance for spiritual formation. Schreiner successfully argues that the transfiguration is a microcosm of the gospel, revealing both Jesus’s divine nature and his mission as the suffering Messiah.
By drawing on patristic sources, modern scholarship, and biblical theology, the author makes a compelling case for the transfiguration’s centrality in understanding Christology, soteriology, and eschatology. Schreiner’s reliance on patristic exegesis is particularly noteworthy, as it demonstrates how the early church interpreted the transfiguration as a theophany and a revelation of Christ’s divine nature. This historical approach is complemented by a strong theological framework, particularly in the author’s use of Chalcedonian Christology to argue for the unity of Jesus’s divine and human natures (chap. 4).
Written from a broadly evangelical perspective, Schreiner’s The Transfiguration of Christ is a significant contribution to the study of this central yet often overlooked event in Jesus’s life and ministry. Ultimately, the author succeeds in elevating the transfiguration’s profile within Western Christian thought, challenging readers to see it not merely as a historical event but as a transformative reality with enduring implications for faith and practice. Schreiner’s work invites others to allow the transfiguration’s light to illuminate the path of discipleship, spiritual growth, and participation in God’s redemptive plan.
