In the Synoptic Gospels, (Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–13, Luke 9:28–36), the account of the transfiguration happens towards the middle of the narrative. It is a key episode and almost immediately follows another important element, the Confession of Peter: "you are the Christ" (Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20). The transfiguration narrative acts as a further revelation of the identity of Jesus as the Son of God to some of his disciples.

In the gospels, Jesus takes Peter; James, son of Zebedee; and James' brother John with him and goes up to a mountain, which is not named. Once on the mountain, Matthew 17:2 states that Jesus "was transfigured before them; his face shining as the sun, and his garments became white as the light." At that point the prophet Elijah (representing the prophets) and Moses (representing the Law) appear and Jesus begins to talk to them. Luke states that they spoke of Jesus' exodus (εξοδον) which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem (Lk 9:31). Luke is also specific in describing Jesus in a state of glory, with Luke 9:32 referring to "they saw His glory".

Just as Elijah and Moses begin to depart from the scene, Peter begins to ask Jesus if the disciples should make three tents for him and the two prophets. This has been interpreted as Peter's attempt to keep the prophets there longer. But before Peter can finish, a bright cloud appears, and a voice from the cloud states: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (Mark 9:7). The disciples then fall to the ground in fear, but Jesus approaches and touches them, telling them not to be afraid. When the disciples look up, they no longer see Elijah or Moses.

When Jesus and the three apostles are walking down the mountain, Jesus tells them to not tell anyone "the things they had seen" until the "Son of Man" has risen from the dead. The apostles are described as questioning among themselves as to what Jesus meant by "risen from the dead".

In addition to the principal account given in the synoptic gospels; in 2 Peter 1:16–18, the Apostle Peter describes himself as an eyewitness "of his magnificence". Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul the Apostle's reference in 2 Corinthians 3:18 to the "transformation of believers" via "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" became the theological basis for considering the transfiguration as the catalyst for processes which lead the faithful to the knowledge of God.

Although Matthew 17 lists the disciple John as being present during the transfiguration, the Gospel of John has no account of it. This has resulted in debate among scholars, some suggest…

Read more on Wikipedia

Christian theology assigns a great deal of significance to the transfiguration, based on multiple elements of the narrative. In Christian teachings, the transfiguration is a pivotal moment, and the setting on the mountain is presented as the point where human nature meets God: the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus as the connecting point, acting as the bridge between heaven and earth.

The transfiguration not only supports the identity of Jesus as the Son of God (as in his baptism), but the statement "listen to him", identifies him as the messenger and mouth-piece of God. The significance of this identification is enhanced by the presence of Elijah and Moses, for it indicates to the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God "par excellence", and instead of Moses or Elijah (representing the Law and the prophets) he should be listened to, surpassing the laws of Moses by virtue of his divinity and filial relationship with God. 2 Peter 1:16–18 echoes the same message: at the Transfiguration God assigns to Jesus a special "honor and glory" and it is the turning point at which God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation, and positions him as ruler and judge.

The transfiguration also echoes the teaching by Jesus (as in Matthew 22:32) that God is not "the God of the dead, but of the living". Although Moses had died and Elijah had been taken up to heaven centuries before (as in 2 Kings 2:11), they now live in the presence of the Son of God, implying that the same return to life applies to all who face death and have faith.
The theology of the transfiguration received the attention of the Church Fathers from the earliest times. In the 2nd century, Irenaeus was fascinated by the transfiguration and wrote: "the glory of God is a live human being and a truly human life is the vision of God". Origen's theology of the transfiguration influenced the patristic tradition and became a basis for theological writings by others. Among other issues, given the instruction to the apostles to keep silent about what they had seen until the resurrection, Origen comments that the glorified states of the transfiguration and the resurrection must be related.

The Desert Fathers emphasized the light of the ascetic experience and related it to the light of the transfiguration – a theme developed further by Evagrius Ponticus in the 4th century. Around the same time Gregory of Nyssa and later Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite were developing a "theology of light" which then influenced Byzantine meditative and mystical traditions such as the Tabor light and theoria. The iconography of the transfiguration continued to develop in this time period, and there is a 6th-century symbolic representation in the apse of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe and a well known depicti…

Read more on Wikipedia

None of the accounts identify the "high mountain" of the scene by name. Since the 3rd century, some Christians have identified Mount Tabor as the site of the transfiguration, including Origen, referencing Ps 89:12. Tabor has long been a place of Christian pilgrimage and is the site of the Church of the Transfiguration. In 1868, Henry Alford cast doubt on Tabor due to the possible continuing Roman use of a fortress which Antiochus the Great built on Tabor in 219 BC. Others have countered that even if Tabor was fortified by Antiochus, this does not rule out a transfiguration at the summit. Josephus mentions in the Jewish War that he built a wall along the top perimeter in 40 days, and he does not mention any previously existing structures. John Lightfoot rejects Tabor as too far but "some mountain near Caesarea-Philippi". The usual candidate, in this case, is Mount Panium, Paneas, or Banias, a small hill situated at the source of the Jordan, near the foot of which Caesarea Philippi was built.

William Hendriksen in his commentary on Matthew (1973) favours Mount Meron. Whittaker (1984) proposes that it was Mount Nebo, primarily on the basis that it was the location where Moses viewed the Promised Land and a parallelism in Jesus' words on descent from the mountain of transfiguration: "You will say to this mountain (i.e. of transfiguration), 'Move from here to there' (i.e. the promised land), and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." France (1987) notes that Mount Hermon is closest to Caesarea Philippi, mentioned in the previous chapter of Matthew. Likewise, Meyboom (1861) identifies "Djebel-Ejeik", but this may be a confusion with Jabal el-Sheikh, the Arabic name for Mount Hermon. Edward Greswell, however, writing in 1830, saw "no good reason for questioning the ancient ecclesiastical tradition, which supposes it to have been mount Tabor." An alternative explanation is to understand the Mount of Transfiguration as symbolic topography in the gospels. As Elizabeth Struthers Malbon notes, the mountain is figuratively the meeting place between God and humans.