The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible

In his last major address to AAs in 1948, their co-founder Dr. Bob said specifically that the basic ideas for the Twelve Steps came from their effort and studies in the Bible. He said the early AAs believed that the Bible contained the answers to their problems. And he pointed to the Book of James, Jesus' Sermonn on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 as "absolutely essential" to their highly successful program of the 1935 founding and developoment period.

These simple facts called for a foundational book that explained the Bible roots of Alcoholics Anonymous. And "The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible" put solid facts behind ideas that AAs had long believed.

To underline the importance of this fact, my book "The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible" is the favorite of my readers for explaining how the Bible influenced the ideas of A.A., the language of the Big Book, and the content of the Twelve Steps. See www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml.

Another book that expands the information is my book "The James Club and the Original A.A. Program's Absolute Essentials" www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml.

The biblical foundations of A.A. are thoroughly covered in A.A.'s own Conference-approved literature: "DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers." This in turn drew upon the words of Dr. Bob's last major talk as spelled out in A.A.'s Pamphlet P 53-- "The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks."

The towering fact presented in "The Good Book and The Big Book" is that the real basic root of early A.A. was the Holy Bible. Other sources such as Dr. Bob's books, Anne Smith's Journal, Quiet Time, the daily devotionals, the Oxford Group, and the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker ALL contained the Bible links. See www.dickb.com/titles.shtml