I haven't followed the entirety of this discussion, so
forgive me if some of this is unrelated.
Moses typology re: Patrick. The connection is
actually rather obvious. Of all the folks in the
Bible with/for whom to make analogies Moses' life has
the most connections with what Patrick in his
Confessio sees as his call. That is: Patrick felt
himself called to the Irish and seeks to go "deliver"
them but is prevented because of some sin he committed
not unlike Moses who sought to deliver Israel and was
thwarted by murdering an Egyptian. Patrick feels
called by God to save a particular people, the Irish.
Moses is called by God to deliver a particular people,
Israel.
There is also a certain "Jewish/Celtic connection in
terms of the concept of tribalism. The Irish seem to
have viewed themselves as one people even though they
had different groups/tribes/political units which was
somewhat different than the other groups in Europe.
And Patrick comes along and "delivers" them, as a
people in their minds.
Finally there is the question of authority. Moses is
directly sent by God. He is certainly a prefigure of
Jesus. The apostles are sent by Jesus and are to be
respected but there is almost a sense that the Celts
are looking to the OT to legitimize their own
practices in contrast to the Continent-such as in the
letters of Columbanus for example.
A good deal of early Irish theology seems to be very
influenced by traditions represented by Eusebius,
Irenaeus, Martin of Tours and so on. Someone recently
wrote an article suggesting that there were Byzantine
contacts through Spain, can't recall whom and where at
the moment, but will endeavour to dredge it up, it was
rather an interesting article. But if so, it might go
far to explain the Moses typology as well as the
"jewish" character of some Irish theology which earned
them the charge of being judaizers.
Larry Swain
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