Extending the Discussion on Paul, Rome, and Elephants

Abstract

enables much of the later discussion about the Transfiguration as a participatory event), his use of the language of glory, his use of the phrase ‘behold two men’ at Luke 9.30 and Acts 1.10 (which may invite readers or hearers to link the Transfiguration with the Ascension, which only Luke narrates), as well as his description of the sleepiness of the disciples and his reference to Peter not knowing what he said. The sub-title of the book is important. It draws attention to its author’s interest in the difference between how people saw things in antiquity, and how they may see them today, and how these different ways of seeing (‘scopic regimes’) are themselves shaped by different understandings of vision. This theoretical framework approach proves fruitful, not least in the way in which it allows Anthony to delineate differences between modern historical-critical and patristic approaches to the Transfiguration. The latter, he notes, begin from what they perceive as the inherent strangeness of the story of the Transfiguration. The former, however, see these accounts as texts that invite readers and hearers who identify as disciples of Jesus to enter into and participate in the narrative and so find it transformative for themselves and for the Church. Anthony writes in full awareness of modern historical-critical approaches, and shows how attention to reception history can contribute to answering contemporary questions about how to understand the New Testament in is historical context, by learning from how it was understood by readers whose cultural world was much closer to that of the gospel writers than is ours today. He also demonstrates how contemporary readers who share their predecessors’ faith in God may gain insights into a wider understanding of the meaning and significance of the Transfiguration than answers to solely historical-critical or nontheological questions could ever reasonably be expected to give. His book is a useful contribution to the history of biblical interpretation and a valuable resource for those interested in the theological reading of Scripture.