Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §15.6
narrated dominates the pericope. 242 Whether some historical reminiscence lies
behind it is a question which can be posed but hardly answered with any confidence.
243 The tradition is certainly a further affirmation of the theme 'more than
a prophet', even than the greatest prophets. And as we have seen, it can be
strongly maintained that the theme itself originated in very early perceptions of
Jesus' mission, including comments that Jesus was recalled as himself making.
But if anything, it was more likely these perceptions which gave rise to the story
than vice-versa.
In short, there need be little doubt that Jesus was regarded as a prophet by
many, that he saw himself in the tradition of the prophets, and probably also that
he claimed a(n eschatological) significance for his mission (and thus himself)
which transcended the older prophetic categories. 244
242. Strauss, Life 540-46. The Jesus Seminar follow a well-trod path in suggesting that
the transfiguration 'may have been a resurrection story relocated by Mark' (Funk, Acts of Jesus
464). See also J. P. Heil, The Transfiguration of Jesus: Narrative Meaning and Function of
Mark 9:2-8, Matt 17:1-8 and Luke 9:28-36 (AB 144; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute,
2000).
243. B. E. Reid, The Transfiguration: A Source- and Redaction-Critical Study of Luke
9:28-36 (Paris: Gabalda, 1993) concludes that 'the most that can be said with certainty[!] about
the historicity of the transfiguration event ... is that the disciples had a revelation concerning
Jesus' identity and mission, in which Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection were understood as
mandated by God in accord with the divine plan of salvation' (147). In line with his thesis of Jesus
as an adept practitioner of mysticism, the transfiguration for Chilton 'represents the mature
development of Rabbi Jesus' kabbalah' (Rabbi Jesus 192-93). Cf. E. Fossum, 'Ascensio, Metamorphosis',
The Image of the Invisible God (NTOA 30; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und
Ruprecht, 1995) 71-94, and the critique by D. Zeller, 'Bedeutung und religionsgeschichtlicher
Hintergrund der Verwandlung Jesu (Markus 9:2-8)', in Chilton and Evans, eds., Authenticating
the Activities of Jesus 303-21 (with bibliography 303 n. 1). J. J. Pilch, 'The Transfiguration of
Jesus: An Experience of Alternate Reality', in P. F. Esler, ed., Modelling Early Christianity:
Social Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context (London: Routledge, 1995) 47-64,
suggests that the episode may be understood in terms of the model of 'altered states of consciousness'
drawn from psychological anthropology.
244. Sanders sums up a fair consensus when he notes: 'Many scholars have agreed that,
of various roles which we can identify, Jesus best fits that of "prophet"' (Jesus 239); 'a charismatic
and autonomous prophet' (Historical Figure 238); cf, e.g., C. G. Montefiore, described
by Hagner as 'the champion of Jesus the prophet' (Jewish Reclamation 238); Becker, Jesus
212-16, 227; the subtitles of Allison, Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet, and Ehrman, Jesus:
Apocalyptic Prophet; B. Witherington, Jesus the Seer (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999) 277-
90. The basic proposition of Schillebeeckx's Jesus was that 'in his life on earth Jesus acts... as
the eschatological prophet from God' (245; see also particularly 185-88, 441-49, 475-80, 486-
99). Similarly Meier finds that his three volumes investigating the Jesus tradition support the
self-chosen portrait of Jesus as 'the Elijah-like, miracle-working, eschatological prophet'
('From Elijah-Like Prophet to the Royal Davidic Messiah', in D. Donnelly, ed., Jesus: A Colloquium
in the Holy Land [New York: Continuum, 2001] 45-83).
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