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{{short description|British missionary}}
[[File:James Hope Moulton.png|thumb|James Hope Moulton]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
The Reverend '''James Hope Moulton''' (11 October 1863 – 9 April 1917) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] non-conformist divine. He was also a [[philology|philologist]] and made a special study of [[Zoroastrianism]].
[[File:James Hope Moulton Signature.png|thumb|James Hope Moulton Signature]]

==Biography==
His family had a strong [[Methodist]] background. His [[William Fiddian Moulton|father]] was the first headmaster of the [[Leys School]], [[Cambridge]] where James was one of the first students. After attending [[King's College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{acad|id=MLTN882JH|name=Moulton, James Hope}}</ref> he chose to become a [[Methodist|Wesleyan]] minister. He showed a strong talent for academic studies, and the [[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchester]] invited him to teach [[Ancient Greek language|Classical Greek]] and other languages. He was also teaching at the [[Didsbury College (Methodist)|Didsbury College]], a Methodist seminary near [[Manchester]]. He was a friend of [[James Frazer]], the Scottish [[social anthropologist]].<ref>Frazer, J. (2005) ''Selected Letters of Sir J. G. Frazer''. Oxford University Press</ref> He developed a strong interest in [[Zoroastrianism]], 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 [[Koine Greek|Greek]] texts that the [[Bible]] is derived from. He was a [[Prison Chaplain]] at [[Preston, Lancashire|Preston]] for some time around 1910.<ref>[http://www.institutions.org.uk/prisons/info/methodist_prison_chaplains.htm Methodist Prison Chaplains] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108200358/http://www.institutions.org.uk/prisons/info/methodist_prison_chaplains.htm |date=8 November 2006 }} at www.institutions.org.uk</ref>

In 1916 he decided to take advantage of the academic lull of [[World War I]]<ref name="treasure">[https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1197485 The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism]{{dl|date=July 2021}}</ref> and spend a long spell in [[India]], to serve as a Methodist missionary and to research and lecture on [[Zoroastrianism]] 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 [[France|French]] [[trenches]] on 5 August 1916. He spent 16 months in India under the auspices of the [[YMCA]], researching, preaching and lecturing. A matter that was of particular interest to him was the religion of the [[Parsis]], 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.<ref>Moulton, J. (1995). ''The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism''.
Kessinger Publishing</ref> While in Karachi, he availed of the friendship and library of [[Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla]], a U.S.-educated Zoroastrian scholar and the high priest of the Parsi community there.

He left [[Karachi]] aboard the ''[[S.S. City of Paris]]'', headed for [[Egypt]] 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]] it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. Moulton, Harris and several others from the ship escaped in a lifeboat,<ref>Moulton, (1919). '''[https://archive.org/stream/jameshopemoulton00mouluoft/jameshopemoulton00mouluoft_djvu.txt James Hope Moulton]'''. London: Epworth Press</ref> 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 [[RMS Lusitania|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 (Methodist)|Didsbury College]]<ref>[http://www.abcog.org/moulton1.htm James Hope Moulton: Egyptian Rubbish-Heaps and the Study of the New Testament] at www.abcog.org</ref>
* [[Fellow]] of [[King's College, Cambridge]]<ref name=treasure/>
* Greenwood Professor of [[Hellenistic Greek]] and [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European Philology]] at [[Victoria University of Manchester|Manchester University]],<ref name=treasure/> 1908-17<ref>Charlton, H. B. (1951) ''Portrait of a University, 1851-1951''. Manchester: Manchester University Press; p. 171</ref>
* [[Doctor of Letters]] (D. Litt.), [[University of London]], 19 December 1901<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=University intelligence |day_of_week=Friday |date=20 December 1901 |page_number=8 |issue=36643| }}</ref>

==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]]<ref>[http://www.abbeybook.com/entries/A59771.html Book A59771 - Moulton, W. Fiddian & James Hope Moulton - WILLIAM F. MOULTON a memoir - 1899] at www.abbeybook.com</ref>
* ''The Papers of [[Oscar Browning]]'', written with his father, [[William Fiddian Moulton]]<ref>[http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0272%2FPP%2FOB%2F1%2F1157%2FA Janus: The Papers of Oscar Browning] at janus.lib.cam.ac.uk</ref>
* ''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)

==See also==
* [[William Fiddian Moulton]], father
* [[John Fletcher Moulton]], uncle
* [[Richard Green Moulton]], uncle
* [[James Egan Moulton]], uncle
* [[George Milligan (moderator)|George Milligan]], co-author of ''Vocabulary of the Greek Testament''.

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Church History Institute [https://archive.is/20050408173109/http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2002/10/daily-10-11-2002.shtml]
* Foreword to The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1197485]{{dl|date=July 2021}}
* theology today book review [http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1964/v21-2-bookreview3.htm]
* kingkong Author Anniversary database [http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/ngcoba/mo4.htm]

==External links==
* ''From Egyptian Rubbish Heaps'', Transcripts of a series of lectures he gave in 1914 [http://www.abcog.org/moulton1.htm]
* Online transcript of ''The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism''[https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1197481]{{dl|date=July 2021}}

{{Authority control}}

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

James Hope Moulton - Revision history

imported>Srich32977 at 15:23, 21 July 2021