The Mountain Of Transfiguration In The Newtestament And In Later Tradition

Abstract

This chapter examines how the mountain was described before its identification with Mount Tabor, and traces the origin and history of that identification. It discusses whether it can stand the test of criticism. If the unnamed mountain in Deut 33:19 is Mount Tabor, it was a cultic centre of the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar, and Hos 5:1, although in a condemning tone, also alludes to a cultic practice on the mountain. In the New Testament, the name Tabor does not occur, but from the second century onward the mountain is associated in various ways with the life of Jesus. There is no need to continue quoting instances where the mountain of Jesus' transfiguration bears the name Tabor-suffice it to say that these instances grow more and more numerous as time progresses, in Byzantine texts as well as in those of Western Christianity. Keywords: Jesus' transfiguration; Mount Tabor; New Testament; Western Christianity