A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob said many times--and emphasized in his last major speech to AAs in 1948--that A.A. Oldtimers were sure that the Good Book contained the answer to all their problems. This quote can be found in A.A.'s Conference-approved Cofounders Pamphlet P-53 and in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.
The Bible was stressed in early A.A. Dr. Bob said the basic ideas for the program came from their study and effort in the Good Book (the name he had for the King James Version of the Bible they studied.
He emphasized again and again that the parts of the Bible that the oldtimers considered "absolutely essential" were the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13.
To insure that AAs could relate these three Bible segments to their program of today and their Big Book, I did a line-by-line study of the Book of James, Matthew 5-7 (Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians. These three were related to my discussion of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous which actually quoted (without attribution) verses and ideas from all three of the essentials.
Bill Wilson and a number of the Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship members considered the Book of James so important that they wanted to call their Society The James Club. But Bill and Bob overruled them and chose the name Alcoholics Anonymous for the Society and the Big Book.
This is all covered in my book "The James Club and The Original A.A. Program's Absolute Essentials" (www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml). There is further discussion in my title "The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible" (www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml).
Both books are available for purchase at Amazon.com and on my site www.dickb.com/titles.shtml
God Bless, Dick B. 4/12/2010
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