Jonah Doesn't Belong in Bible

Feb. 1920

American Educator Explains Presence in Book of Myth of Jonah and the Whale

Dr. R. G. Moulton, professor of literature at the University of Chicago, addressing a gathering of Wesleyans at Bath, England, where he received his education, insisted that Jonah was not swallowed by the whale and that the story forms no part of the real Bible.

The Bible, mighty in itself, said Doctor Moulton, had passed through the hands of commentators who had no knowledge, no understanding of literature, and who reduced it to a form which had little or no likeness to the real Bible. One of these numerous commentators had written into that most spiritual and beautiful book of Jonah the narrative of the whale, the only effect being one of distortion and disfigurement.

In actual fact the story, asserted Doctor Moulton, had been originally in the form of a mere footnote comment in manuscript, but by some blunder, due to careless, slipshod printing from which the Bible suffered more than any other book in the world, the fable of the whale had been included in the general text. And in this way had it come down through the ages to the modern world as pure comedy, or what was worse, ribald satire.


Miserable Comforters

Why was Job always cold in bed? Because he had such miserable comforters.