The Trinity and Christology in the Transfiguration.

When one reads the gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, one can't help but conclude

that it's one of the most striking and profound mysteries of Christ's earthly life.

And indeed it seems as if the three apostolic witnesses have been brought up a high mountain in order to glimpse something

that is no longer earthly, but rather of heaven. Christ radiates with splendor. A bright cloud

overshadows them, and they hear the father's voice bearing witness to his only begotten son.

In patristic and medieval theology, one can typically observe two axes of theological

reflection on the theophani of the transfiguration.

The first axis is Trinitarian.

It's a theophanie of the divine persons, the father's Voice, the Beloved Son, and in some authors,

though not all, interestingly, the luminous cloud signifies the Holy Spirit.

The second axis is Christological.

It's a theophanie of Christ, who is true God and true man, a manifestation of the divine

sun present in human form as he radiates a divinized glory, or for some, even the very

eternal light of the divine nature.

Some patristic and medieval authors interpret the Transfiguration, principally along one

axis, or the other, or emphasize one and acknowledge the other only in passing. In Aquinas'

theological reading of the Transfiguration, we find both of these dimensions or axes. And in fact, I would contend

that St. Thomas offers a distinctive and powerful account of this mystery that is at once both

Christological and Trinitarian. The luminous mystery of the Trinity is manifested through Christ,

the eternal son sent by the Father as man in the power of the Spirit.

As man who is true God incarnate, Christ leads us up into the heart of the Trinitarian mystery.

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