The Reverend James Hope Moulton (11 October 1863 – 9 April 1917) was a British non-conformist divine. He was also a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and made a special study of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

Biography

His family had a strong

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

background. His

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

was the first headmaster of the Leys School,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

where James was one of the first students. After attending

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, he chose to become a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

minister. He showed a strong talent for academic studies, and the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

invited him to teach

Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

and other languages. He was also teaching at the Didsbury College, a Methodist seminary near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He was a friend of

James Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Personal life He was born on 1 Janua ...

, the Scottish

social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

. He developed a strong interest in

, one of the world's oldest known monotheistic religions. Over the course of his life he published many books and papers, mainly focused on Zoroastrianism and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

texts that the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

is derived from. He was a Prison Chaplain at Preston for some time around 1910. In 1916 he decided to take advantage of the academic lull of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and spend a long spell in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, to serve as a Methodist missionary and to research and lecture on

where it is still practiced by certain groups. This was not an easy time for him, as his wife had recently died, and while he was in India, his son William Ralph Osborn Moulton died in the French

trenches A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from erosi ...

on 5 August 1916. He spent 16 months in India under the auspices of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

, researching, preaching and lecturing. A matter that was of particular interest to him was the religion of the

Parsis Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

, the Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent, and the relationship between their beliefs and Judeo-Christian religions. He felt that the former was awaiting its completion by the latter. While in Karachi, he availed of the friendship and library of

Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla (22 September 1875 – 25 May 1956), also abbreviated M. N. Dhalla, was a Pakistani Zoroastrian priest and religious scholar. Dhalla is best known for his criticism of the orthodox factions within the Parsi communit ...

, a U.S.-educated Zoroastrian scholar and the high priest of the Parsi community there. He left

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

aboard the '' S.S. City of Paris'', headed for

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

where he met with his friend and colleague Dr J. Rendel Harris. The pair set sail from Port Said but as their ship passed the

Gulf of Lion The Gulf of Lion or Gulf of Lions (French: ''golfe du Lion'', Spanish: ''golfo de León'', Italian: ''Golfo del Leone'', Occitan: ''golf del/dau Leon'', Catalan: ''golf del Lleó'', Medieval Latin: ''sinus Leonis'', ''mare Leonis'', Classical L ...

it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. Moulton, Harris and several others from the ship escaped in a lifeboat, but James Moulton died on the third of the four days it took the boat to reach Corsica, aged fifty-three. He was buried at sea on 9 April 1917. Almost 3 years previously he opened up his book ''From Egyptian Rubbish Heaps'' with this paragraph "On July 31, 1914, the ill-fated Lusitania landed at New York after what proved her last peace voyage. A week later two of her passengers proceeded to the Conference at Northfield, where some two thousand Christian people were gathered in sight of the grave of D. L. Moody. It was very hard for us all, doubly hard for Britons, to detach our thoughts even partially from the horrors that were already beginning—horrors which will long make it impossible to name even the best of Germans without a sharp stab of pain. But we were studying the only Book that can ever bring peace and comfort to men in their direst need, and there is no fear that those who know will think we were 'fiddling while Rome burned.'" He had been aboard the ship on its last voyage just as World War 1 began. It was sunk less than 11 months later, killing everyone on board.

Academic positions

* Tutor at Didsbury College *

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

* Greenwood Professor of

Hellenistic Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

and Indo-European Philology at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, 1908-17 *

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

(D. Litt.),

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, 19 December 1901

Works

* ''Grammar of New Testament Greek Vol. I - Prolegomena'', 1906 * ''WILLIAM F. MOULTON a memoir'', written with his brother, who had the same name as their father, William Fiddian Moulton * ''The Papers of

Oscar Browning Oscar Browning OBE (17 January 1837 – 6 October 1923) was a British educationalist, historian and ''bon viveur'', a well-known Cambridge personality during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. An innovator in the early development of ...

'', written with his father, William Fiddian MoultonJanus: The Papers of Oscar Browning
at janus.lib.cam.ac.uk * ''Early Religious Poetry of Persia'' * ''Early Religious Poetry of Persia, 1911'' * ''From Egyptian Rubbish Heaps, 1916 (second edition 1917)'' * ''Early Zoroastrianism'' * ''Fire Temples and Towers of Silence'' * ''Parsi Piety'' * ''The Crown of Zoroastrianism'' * ''The Parsis'' * ''The Parsis and Christian Propaganda'' * ''The Teaching of Zarathushtra'' * ''Treasure of the Magi: a study of modern Zoroastrianism'' * ''Zarathustra and the Outside World'' * ''Zoroastrianism'' * ''An Introduction to the Study of New Testament Greek'' (1895) * ''Two Lectures on the Science of Language'' (1903) * ''The Christian Religion in the Study and the Street'' (1919) * ''A Neglected Sacrament and Other Sermons and Addresses'' (1919)

References

* Church History Institut

* Foreword to The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianis

* theology today book revie

* kingkong Author Anniversary databas

External links

* ''From Egyptian Rubbish Heaps'', Transcripts of a series of lectures he gave in 191

* Online transcript of ''The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moulton, James Hope 1863 births 1917 deaths Academics of the University of Manchester English biographers British chaplains English Methodist missionaries Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Methodist ministers Methodist missionaries in India People educated at The Leys School People who died at sea Burials at sea James Hope Prison chaplains Zoroastrian studies scholars Missionary linguists British casualties of World War I

Biography

Academic positions

Works

See also

References

External links