Alcoholics Anonymous History
with
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
This article and
report by A.A. Author and Historian Dick B. intends to focus readers on
accurate, truthful, comprehensive Alcoholics Anonymous History—particularly
as it extends from the pre-A.A. Christian roots of the 1850’s to the period
just after Bill Wilson published the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
in April 1939. It will lay out the history in various chunks that can be
examined and studied as time permits and that should prove useful to the
recovery community.
[Draft updated to
January 29, 2013, with Dick B. and Ken B.’s latest titles, articles, videos,
and radio show episodes. The final draft will contain full bibliographic
references and publication data, and will be updated as well.]
Let’s Begin with
Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Conference-Approved Literature
I began my own
search for Alcoholics Anonymous history by reading all the available,
accurate, relevant literature published by A.A. itself. I still get grounded
there and recommend looking at A.A. General Service Conference-approved
literature first—instead of speculating on what A.A. is or isn’t. Once that
is done, the reader can fill in the holes, straighten out the distortions,
correct the misrepresentations, eliminate subjective gossip, and find out
what most in the recovery community have simply not heard.
And the recommended
books, in the order of the publication, are:
Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from
Alcoholism, 1st ed. (New York
City, N.Y.: Works Publishing Company, 1939). [Note that this book was “NOT
Conference-approved,” as there was no “Conference” in existence at the time
to “approve” it.]
RHS (New York 2, N. Y.: The A.A.
Grapevine, 1951). This issue of the AA Grapevine is dedicated to the
memory of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, DR. BOB (i.e., Robert
Holbrook Smith—“RHS”)
Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered
from Alcoholism, 2d ed. (New York
City, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc., 1955)
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
(New York: Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 1957).
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975). Item # P-53. This pamphlet is currently
available online from A.A.: http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theCo-FoundersofAA.pdf;
accessed 1/30/13.
Alcoholics
Anonymous, 3rd ed.
(New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976).
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, (New York, N.Y.:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980).
‘PASS IT ON’: The
Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984).
The Language of the
Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings
(New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988).
Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed. (New York
City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001).
Experience,
Strength and Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics
Anonymous, (New York, NY:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2003).
Next, Look at
Relevant, Reliable Books and Other Literature about Alcoholics Anonymous
History That Can Be Helpful
Piece by piece,
manuscript by manuscript, research trip by research trip, archive by archive,
library by library, interview by interview, Alcoholics Anonymous history—in
its full form, and in a form that is comprehensive, accurate, and able to be
used and applied in recovery today—emerged from and is reported in the
following Alcoholics Anonymous History literature:
Bill W., Alcoholics
Anonymous: “The Big Book”: The Original 1939 Edition, with a New Introduction by Dick B.
(Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011)
AA of Akron
Pamphlets, n.d.: Available at Akron Intergroup Office (revised several times)
A Guide to the
Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
A Manual for
Alcoholics Anonymous
Second Reader for
Alcoholics Anonymous
Spiritual
Milestones in Alcoholics Anonymous
Akron A.A.’s: What
Others Think of Alcoholics Anonymous
Central Bulletin, Box 1638, Station C, Cleveland,
Ohio (3 Volumes)
Cleveland: A.A.
(articles in Houston Press), A.A. in Cleveland, A.A. Sponsorship
Cleveland Plain
Dealer Articles (before edited, altered, and republished under new name)
[All available
Cleveland Intergroup archives materials were reviewed by Dick B. and Ken B.
in 2012, and discussed by Wally P., But for the Grace of God, 1995],
30-46.
Autobiographies of
Bill Wilson:
Bill W., My
First 40 Years (Center City, MN: Hazelden).
Chapter 1 “Bill’s
Story,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, 1-16.
The many
manuscripts by Bill that Dick B. found, was permitted to copy, and which are
contained in a bound volume in Maui, Hawaii. All found at Stepping Stones,
most of which are discussed at some length in Dick B., Turning Point: A
History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (Kihei, HI:
Paradise Research Publications, 1997).
Biographies of Bill
W.:
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W., 2006.
Susan Cheever, My
Name is Bill W., 2004.
Tom White, Bill
W.: A Different Kind of Hero, 2003.
Francis Hartigan, Bill
W., A Biography . . , 2000.
Matthew Raphael, Bill
W. and Mr. Wilson, 2000
Nan Robertson, Getting
Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, 1988.
Robert Thomsen, Bill
W., 1975
Bill W. (New York: The AA Grapevine, 1971).
Biographies of Dr.
Bob
RHS, 1951.
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks, Item # P-53.
“Doctor Bob’s
Nightmare,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 171-81.
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, 1980.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed., 2010.
Dr. Bob of
Alcoholics Anonymous,
2008
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis
of Alcoholics Anonymous,
Newton ed., 1998.
Dr. Bob and His
Library, 3rd
ed., 1998.
“Alcoholics
Anonymous and Dr. Bob,” http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/
“16 Specific
Practices Associated with the Original Akron A.A. "Christian
Fellowship"
Program,” http://internationalchristianrecoverycoaliti.blogspot.com
“Get Honest with
Yourself, Pray. Alcoholics Anonymous Advise,” The Tidings, Page 17,
Friday, March 26, 1948.
D. J. Defoe,
"I Saw Religion Remake a Drunkard" in Your Faith (September
1939), 84-88. (Your Faith is "a McFadden Publication")--Dr. Bob is
called "Dr. X" in this article.
Biographical on
A.A. Number Three, Bill D.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.
“Alcoholics
Anonymous Number Three,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 182-192
‘PASS IT ON,’
356-57.
“Bill Dotson: A.A
Number Three’s Recovery by the Power of God” http://MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com
“Bill Dotson – AA’s
Number Three, http://silkworth.net/aahistory/print/bdotson2.html
“Bill Dotson: A.A.
Number 3”: http://www.barefootsworld.net/aabilld-aa3.html
Biographical on
Rowland Hazard
[Rowland had been
told by Dr. Carl Jung that he had the mind of a chronic alcoholic but could
possibly be cured by a conversion. Rowland returned to America, became
associated with the Oxford Group, studied with Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and became
active in Shoemaker’s Calvary Church. Rowland had been impressed by the
simplicity of the early Christian teachings as advocated by the Oxford Group.
Rowland made a decision for Jesus Christ. Rowland and two other Oxford Group
friends (Cebra Graves and Shep Cornell) had decided to witness to Ebby
Thacher and told Ebby many Oxford Group principles and practices. Ebby, an
old drinking friend of Bill Wilson’s who had become a “real alcoholic”
recalled that two of Rowland’s Oxford Group friends one of whom was (an old
friend of Bill Wilson’s and a “real alcoholic”) had told Ebby “things they
had gotten out of the Oxford Group based on the life of Christ, biblical
times.” Ebby said: “It was what I had been taught as a child and what I
inwardly believed, but had lain aside” The men had suggested that Ebby call
on God and try prayer. Rowland and the two others lodged Ebby in Shoemaker’s
Calvary Mission. Occasionally, a religious writer—either disdainful of, or
unfamiliar with, A.A. facts and origins will say erroneously: “Alcoholics
Anonymous does not use the words sin or conversion” See Linda Mercadante,
Victims & Sinners, 1996, 70. Or, as she does on page 91: God does not ask
any more than simple acknowledgement of divine existence.” But our readers
should look at A.A.’s Third Step prayer—“May I do Thy will always” and A.A.’s
Seventh Step prayer—“Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your
bidding. Amen.” Then spend a moment with Exodus 15:26, Exodus 20:1-17—the Ten
Commandments; Matthew 22:36-40—the two Great Commandments; and James 2:8-11;
and read all of Hebrews 11:6.]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT
STARTED RIGHT THERE,” 2006
Bill C. and Jay S.,
Kitchen Table A.A. Sponsorship Workshop, Carlsbad, 2007
Jay Stinnett, “Why
Our Lives Were Saved,” A.A. Spiritual History Workshop, Reykjavík, Iceland,
March 11, 2007.
‘PASS IT ON,’ 1984.
Mel B., Ebby:
The Man Who Sponsored Bill W., 1998.
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.
Bill W. My First
40 Years
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Men of Vermont: Vermont
Connections to A.A. Personalities and Early A.A.’s Original Program
(Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research
Publications, Inc., 2012)
Dick B., The
Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed
Dick B., New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.
Tom White, Bill
W.: A Different Kind of Hero, 2003.
Biographical on F.
Shepard Cornell
Bill W., My
First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel B., Ebby
Leslie B. Cole, Rogers
Burnham: The Original Man behind Bill W.
Charles Clapp, The
Big Bender, pp. 105-50
Bill Pittman and
Dick B., Courage to Change: The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step
Movement, pp. 135-50.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Men of Vermont.
Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed., pp. 5, 19, 28, 142-45,
152, 159, 162, 168-70.
Dick B., The
Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, new rev ed., pp. 128-30.
Dick B., New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed., pp.
333-35.
Helen Smith
Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door, p. 177.
John Potter Cuyler,
Calvary Church in Action, p. 57.
Lois Remembers, p. 91.
Biographical on
Cebra Graves
Bill W., My
First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel B., Ebby
Leslie B. Cole, Rogers
Burnham: The Original Man behind Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont
Biographical on
William D. Silkworth, M.D.
[Silkworth’s name
itself may not be well known to most AAs. But they certainly know of the
“Doctor’s Opinion” written by Silkworth as an introduction to their Big Book.
And they probably have grasped the fact that Silkworth established in Bill
Wilson’ thinking that alcoholism was a disease—an allergy of the body kicked
into gear by an obsession of the mind. But, as Silkworth’s biographer
observed after he had researched Silkworth’s life and papers, Silkworth has
not been given credit for the role he played in convincing Bill and others
that they could be cured of their alcoholism by the “Great Physician,” Jesus
Christ. And that solution—long since tossed aside before the Big Book was
published--became the foundation of Bill’s conviction that “conversion” was
the answer to alcoholism and that it was manifested by a “spiritual
experience.” “Divine Aid,” Bill was still calling it in his address at the
Shrine Auditorium in 1948 with Dr. Bob on the stage with him as well. The
information about the Great Physician and cure was conveyed to Bill on his
third hospitalization when he was given a virtual death sentence promise if
Bill did not quit drinking immediately. The specifics of Silkworth’s advice
on alcoholism were confirmed by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.]
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth:
The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks.
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.
The Language of the
Heart
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010
Bill W., My
First 40 Years, 2001
Norman Vincent
Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ
Biographical on
Edwin Throckmorton Thacher, “Ebby,” Bill’s Sponsor
[While Ebby was in
Calvary Mission, he went to the altar and made a decision for Jesus Christ.
He then visited Bill as he himself had been visited by Rowland Hazard, Cebra
Graves, and Shep Cornell. Ebby told Bill he had “found religion,” and that he
had tried prayer—something he specifically recommended to Bill Wilson. Bill
specifically concluded that Ebby had been “reborn.” But taking no chances,
Bill went to Shoemaker’s Calvary Church, listened to Ebby’s testimony, and
then decided that if the Great Physician had helped Ebby, he (Bill) could
probably receive the same help. Armed with Silkworth’s advice and Ebby’s
eye-witness testimony, Bill went to Calvary Mission himself. He went to the altar.
He made his own decision for Jesus Christ. He quickly wrote, “For sure, I had
been born again.” And then, still drunk and still despondent, Bill made his
way to Towns Hospital where he decided to call on the Great Physician and had
the experience—which Silkworth called a conversion experience—and sensed the
presence of God in his room. And never drank again.]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT
STARTED RIGHT THERE.” 2006
Bill W., My
First 40 Years,
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth:
The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks.
Mel B. Ebby: The
Man Who Sponsored Bill W., 1998
‘PASS IT ON’
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
Richard M. Dubiel, The
Road to Fellowship, 2004, 79-80: “[Rowland Hazard] must have had some
sort of influence on early A.A.’s who knew about him, whether at first or
second hand . . . it is clear that behind Ebby Thatcher [sic], the messenger
who brought the message of salvation to Bill Wilson in the kitchen of Bill’s
apartment in November 1934, lay the figure of Rowland Hazard III, the
mysterious messenger behind the messenger.”
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. 2010.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont
Biographical on Dr.
Bob’s Wife, Anne Ripley Smith
Dick B., Anne
Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed., 1998
Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed., 1998
Bob Smith and Sue
Smith Windows, Children of the Healer, 1992
Charlotte Hunter,
Billye Jones, Joan Zieger, Women Pioneers in 12 Step Recovery, 1999
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
RHS
The Language of the
Heart
Biography on Bill
W.’s Wife, Lois Wilson
Lois Remembers, 1979.
William Borchert, When
Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story
Bill W. My First
40 Years
Dick B.., New
Light on Alcoholism, Pittsburgh ed.
Biography on
Henrietta Buckler Seiberling
Dick B., Henrietta
B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause
Charlotte Hunter,
Billye Jones, Joan Zieger, Women Pioneers
Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d, ed,
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Biography of T.
Henry and Clarace Williams
Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed.
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Biographical on Dr.
Frank N.D. Buchman, Founder of the Oxford Group
Garth Lean, Frank
Buchman: A Life, 1985
Frank Buchman, Remaking
the World, 1961
H. W. “Bunny”
Austin, Frank Buchman as I Knew Him, 1975
Peter Howard,
That Man Frank
Buchman, 1946
The World Rebuilt:
The True Story of Frank Buchman.
. . , 1951
Frank Buchman’s
Secret, 1961
R.C. Mowat, The
Message of Frank Buchman, n.d.
T. Willard Hunter, World
Changing Through Life Changing, 1977
Alan Thornhill, The
Significance of the Life of Frank Buchman, 1952
Dick B., The
Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed.
Biographical on
Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr
Dick B.,
New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed.
Good
Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A.
The
Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous
Real
12 Step History
Irving Harris, The
Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
“S.M. S.—Man of God
for Our Time,” Faith at Work, 1964.
AJ Russell, For
Sinners Only
Norman Vincent
Peale, “The Unforgettable Sam Shoemaker,” Faith at Work, 1964.
Louis W. Pitt, “New
Life, New Reality: A Brief Picture of S.M.S.’s Influence, Faith at Work,
Sherwood S. Day,
“Always Ready, S.M.S. as a Friend, Calvary Evangel, 1950
Helen Smith
Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door, 1967
Bill Wilson, “I
Stand by the Door,” The A.A. Grapevine, 1967
“Ten of America’s
Greatest Preachers,” Newsweek,
“Calvary Mission, “
Pamphlet, NY Calvary Episcopal Church, n.d.
John Potter Cuyler,
Jr., Calvary Church in Action, 1934.
The Language of the
Heart
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
Samuel M Shoemaker,
Jr.
So I Stand by the
Door and Other Verses, Pittsburgh, CalvaryRectory.1958
My Life Work and My
Will, Pamphlet, 1930
“A First Century
Christian Fellowship,” Churchman,
Calvary Church
Yesterday and Today, 1936.
Realizing Religion,
1923
“How to Find God,”
The Calvary Evangel, 1957.
Get Changed; Get
Together; Get Going: A History of the Pittsburgh Experiment, n.d.
Biographical on
Clarence H Snyder
Three Clarence
Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and Their Wives, Comp & ed. by Dick B., Our
A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community: A Twelve-Step Guide For Those Who Want to
Believe, 2005
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, 1980.
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
Clarence Snyder,
Going through the
Steps, 2d ed., 1985
My Higher Power-The
Light Bulb, 1985
A.A. Sponsorship
Mitchell K., How It
Worked: The Story of Clarence H Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics
Anonymous in Cleveland, 1997.
Dick B., That
Amazing Grace, 1996.
Biographical on
Sister Ignatia
[Though author Mary
Darrah endeavors to select an earlier date for the A.A.-Ignatia connection,
it is clear that Ignatia came on the A.A. scene about mid-August 1935. And
her contributions were with Dr. Bob at St. Thomas Hospital from that point
on. Her book makes clear that Father John C. Ford, S.J. had—like Father
Dowling, S.J.—had a real part in editing Bill Wilson’s Twelve Steps and
Twelve Traditions and his Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age—both published in
the 1950’s]
Mary Darrah, Sister
Ignatia, 1992, 13, 25-26, 33-37.
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, 1980
Biographical on
Father Ed Dowling, S.J.
[Though Dowling did
not meet Bill until the winter of 1940, he became a friend and sponsor to
Bill, and edited Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age and Twelve
Steps and Twelve Traditions]
Robert Fitzgerald,
S.J., The Soul of Sponsorship, 1995. See 55-66, 89]
“Pass It On,” 1980,
240-243, 281-282, 354, 371, 387.
Central Bulletin,
Volumes I – III, Cleveland Central Committee, Dec. 1942-Dec. 1945
Nell Wing, Grateful
to Have Been There, 1992.
Stewart C., A
Reference Guide to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, 1986.
Bill Pittman, AA
The Way It Began, 1988.
Ernest Kurtz,
Not-God, 1979
How to Study,
Learn, Teach, and Apply the Historical Elements Today
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Stick with the
Winners! How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recover y Meetings Using
Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and
Workers in the Recovery Arena, 2012
Pioneer Stories in
Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in Recovery Confirmed!, 2012
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010
Making Known The
Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Sixteen Year Research,
Writing, Publishing, and Fact Dissemination Project, 3rd ed., 2005
Dick B.
The Good Book and
The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible
The Good Book-Big
Book Guidebook, 2006
Cured!: Proven Help
for Alcoholics and Addicts, 2d ed, 2006
The James Club and
The Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials, 4th ed., 2005
Twelve Steps for
You: Take the Twelve Steps with the Big Book, A.A. History, and the Good Book
at Your Side, 4th ed., 2005
God and Alcoholism:
Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st Century, 2002
Why Early A.A.
Succeeded: The Good Book in Alcoholics Anonymous Yesterday and Today (A Bible
Study Primer for AAs and other 12-Steppers), 2001
By The Power of
God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups & Forming Similar Groups Today, 2000
Utilizing Early
AA.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today, 2000.
Now to Alcoholics
Anonymous History: Item by Item, on the Origins of A.A.
Dick B.,
Introduction to the
Sources and Founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2007
Real Twelve Step
Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You May Not Know, 2006
Making Known the
Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. 2006
The First Nationwide
Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference, 2d ed., 2006.
Turning Point: A
History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes, 1997.
Mel B.
New Wine: The
Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle, 1991
My Search for Bill
W., 2000.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History: Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.
Dick B., New Light
on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed., 1999.
Bill W., I Stand by
the Door, The A.A. Grapevine, 1967.
Charles Taylor
Knippel, Samuel M. Shoemaker’s Theological Influence on William G. Wilson’s
Twelve Step Spiritual Program of Recovery, 1987
Helen Smith
Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door: The Life of Sam Shoemaker,1967.
John Potter Cuyler,
Jr., Calvary Church in Action, 1934.
W. Irving Harris,
The Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
Samuel M.
Shoemaker, Calvary Church Yesterday and Today, 1936,
Samuel M.
Shoemaker, Realizing Religion, 1923
Alcoholics
Anonymous History: the Oxford Group
Dick B., The Oxford
Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed., 1998.
Frank N. D.
Buchman, Remaking the World, 1961.
Garth Lean,
Frank Buchman: A
Life, 1985.
Good God, It Works,
1974.
James D. Newton,
Uncommon Friends, 1987.
Henry B. Wright,
The Will of God and a Man’s Life Work, 1909.
Howard A. Walter,
Soul Surgery, 1928.
Harold Begbie, Life
Changers, 1927.
Howard J. Rose, The
Quiet Time, 1937.
Cecil Rose, When
Man Listens, 1937.
Harry J. Almond,
Foundations for Faith, 1980.
Peter Howard, That
Man Frank Buchman, 1946.
Robert E. Speer,
The Principles of Jesus, 1902.
B. H. Streeter, The
God Who Speaks, 1930.
Sherwood Sunderland
Day, The Principles of the Group, n.d.
T. Willard Hunter,
It Started Right
There, 2006.
World Changing
Through Life-Changing, 1977.
The Layman with a
Notebook, What is the Oxford Group? 1933.
Kenneth Belden,
Meeting Moral
Re-Armament, 1979.
Beyond the
Satellites: Is God Speaking? Are We Listening, 1987.
Alcoholics
Anonymous History and the “Temperance Movement”
[Temperance,
Abstinence, and the Widespread Concerns of Society: Bill Wilson had made such
a fuss over the “failures” of the Washingtonian Movement that it can be said
that his A.A. took no position on “liquor” issues. But the Washingtonian
Movement was but a speck on the temperance front. It lasted only a short
time. It was dismissed by many as not a religious movement, and it is fair to
say that its emphasis was on “pledges” and not on healing by God.
Nonetheless, the backdrop of Dr. Bob’s and Bill’s boyhood days was
temperance—abstinence from drink—however much people may have disagreed on what
was really involved—religion, morality, social problems. There are several
pieces of literature that may or may not be known by, or of interest to those
who might just dismiss the whole picture by saying, “We don’t want to be like
the Washingtonians. They failed.” But the failure occurred before the major
influences on A.A. background got under way.]
Harry S. Warner,
Rev. Francis W. McPeek, and E.M. Jellinek, “Lecture 19, Philosophy of the
Temperance Movement” Alcohol, Science and Society, As given at the Yale
Summer School of Alcohol Studies, 1945, 267-285; McPeek: “I don’t believe
that the temperance movement can be understood in any sense unless the
framework in which it developed is understood, and this framework is
essentially Christian.,” 279.
Rev. Roland H.
Bainton, “Lecture 20, The Churches and Alcohol, Alcohol, Science and Society,
287-298
Rev. Francis W.
McPeek, “Lecture 26 – The Role of Religious Bodies in the Trreatment of
Inebriety in the United States, Alcohol, Science and Society, 1945, 406-411.
Jared C. Lobdell,
This Strange Illness: Alcoholism and Bill W., 2004, 30-38.
William L White,
Slaying the Dragon, 1998, 4-14.
Alcoholics
Anonymous History: the Co-Founder Dr. Bob’s Christian Roots and Upbringing in
Vermont
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Dr. Bob of
Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster
in Vermont, 2008.
Bill W. and Dr.
Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont, 2012
[The Town of St.
Johnsbury—Dr. Bob’s birthplace]
Edward Taylor
Fairbanks, The Town of St. Johnsbury, Vt; A Review Of One Hundred Twenty-Five
Years to the Anniversary Pageant, 1912
Claire Dunne
Johnson, “I See By the Paper,” 1987.
[The People,
including the Fairbanks family and the Smith family]
Albert Nelson
Marquis, Who’s Who in New England
Charles G. Ullery,
Men of Vermont, 1894.
Hiram Carleton,
Geneological and Family History of the State of Vermont, Vol I.
Lorenzo Sayles
Fairbanks, Geneology of the Fairbanks Family… 1897
The “Fairbanks
Papers” 1815-1889,.
William H. Jeffrey,
Successful Vermonters, 19
[Congregationalism
and North Congregational Church of St.Johnsbury]
John M. Comstock,
The Congregational Churches of Vermont and Their Ministry, 1762-1942. 1942.
John E. Nutting,
Becoming the United Church of Christ in Vermont, 1995
History of North
Congregational Church, 2007
Arthur Fairbanks
Stone, North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 1825-1942, 1942.
[Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor]
Francis E. Clark.
Memoirs of Many Men
in Many Lands, An Autobiography, 192
Christian Endeavor
in All Lands, 1906
World Wide
Endeavor: The Story of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor and
in All Lands, 1895.
Amos R. Wells,
Expert Endeavor, A Textbook of Christian Endeavor Methods and Principles,
1911.
John R. Clements,
The Francis E. Clark Year Book: A Collection of Living Paragraphs From
Addresses, Books, and Magazine Articles by the Founder of the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor,
John Franklin
Cowan, New Life in the Old Prayer Meeting, 1906.
[St. Johnsbury
Academy]
Arthur Fairbanks
et. al. [including Dr. Bob’s mother], An Historical Sketch of St. Johnsbury
Academy 1842-1922
Charles Edward
Russell, Bare Hands and Stone Walls, 1933
Richard Beck, A
Proud Tradition A Bright Future
Robert Miraldi, The
Pen Is Mightier: The Muckraking Life of Charles Edward Russell, 2003.
The Academy Student
(1897), (1898)
[Young Men’s
Christian Association]
Year Book of the
Young Men’s Christian Association of North America, 1896
C. Howard Hopkins,
John R. Mott, 1865-1955.
Laurence L.
Doggett, History of the Young Men’s Christian Association
Richard C. Morse,
History of the North American Young Men’s Christian Associations, 1919.
Sherwood Eddy, A
Century with Youth, 1884-1944, 1944
[Salvation Army]
[In Lecture 26,
cited below, Rev. McPeek states: “Much work was done in the city missions and
particularly by the Salvation Army. . . . Generally speaking. The Salvationists
have capitalized on the same techniques that have made other reform programs
work: (1) Insistence on total abstinence. (2) reliance upon God. (3) the
provision of new friendships among those who understand. (4) the opportunity
to work with those who suffer from the same difficulty. (5) unruffled
patience and consistent faith in the ability of the individual and the power
of God to accomplish the desired ends.” 414-415]
William Booth, In
Darkest England and the Way Out, 1890,
Harold Begbie
The Life of General
William Booth: The Founder of the Salvation Army (Vol I and II), NY:
MacMillan, 1920.
Twice Born Men,
1909
Rev. Francis W.
McPeek, “Lecture 26 - The Role of Relisious Bodies in the Treatment of
Inebriety in the United States,” Alcohol, Science and Society, 1945, 403-418.
Howard Clinebell,
Understanding and Counseling Persons with Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral
Addictions, 1998, 184-194.
Alcoholics
Anonymous History: the Christian Upbringing of Co-Founder Bill Wilson
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
[The conversion
that cured Bill Wilson’s grandfather Willie of alcoholism]
Francis Hartigan,
Bill W.: A Biography…, 10-11
Robert Thomsen,
Bill W., 14
Bill W., My First
40 Years, 6
Susan Cheever, My
Name is Bill, 17.
[The Evangelists]
Allen Folger,
Twenty-Five Years as an Evangelist, 1906
Bob Holman, F. B.
Meyer: “If I Had a Hundred Lives…,” 2007
Edgar J. Goodspeed,
The Wonderful Career of Moody and Sankey in Great Britain and America, 1876.
Elmer Towns and
Douglas Porter, The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever, 2000
J. Wilbur Chapman,
Life and Work of Dwight L. Moody
Mark O. Guldseth,
Streams, 1982
[East Dorset
Congregational Church]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed
Bill W. and Dr.
Bob: The Green Mountain Men
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W., 7-10, 27-28, 72-73
Susan Cheever, My
Name is Bill W., 4, 44
Francis Hartigan,
Bill W., 175
Robert Thomsen,
Bill W., 15, 30-9. 200
[Bible study-in
East Dorset and in a 4 year Bible study course at Burr and Burton Seminary]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.
Bill W. and Dr.
Bob: The Green Mountain Men
Susan Cheever, My
Name is Bill, 37-38, 47-48.
Robert Thomsen,
Bill W., 30-39, 200.
[Christian Revivals
and Conversion Meetings Bill attended]
Bill Pittman, AA
The Way It Began, 79
Francis Hartigan,
Bill W., 10-11, 53, 58, 59
Matthew Raphael,
Bill W., 77
Susan Cheever, My
Name is Bill, 44-45,
Mel B., New Wine,
127-28
Bill W. My First 40
Years
[Gospel Rescue
Missions]
D. Samuel Hopkins
Hadley, Down in Water Street: A Story of Sixteen Years Life and Work in Water
Street Mission: A Sequel to the Life of Jerry McAuley, n.d.
J. Wilbur Chapman,
S.H. Hadley of Water Street, 1906.
“Pass It On,”
William James. The
Varieties of Religious Experience, 1990, 188-9, 146
John Potter Cuyler,
Jr., Calvary Church in Action
Howard Clinebell,
Understanding and Counseling, 172-193
[Burr and Burton
Seminary and the Manchester Congregational Church]
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide 3rd ed
Bill W.and Dr. Bob:
The Green Moutain Men
Bill W.: My First
Forty Years
Frederica
Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture: Portrait of Burr and Burton Academy,
2005,, 25, 42. 44, 56, 67
Mel B., Ebby
Dr. Robert J.
Wilson III and Phebe Ann Lewis, The First Congregational Church, Manchester,
Vermont 1784-1984 (Manchester, VT: Bicentennial Steering Committee, 1984),
88-91, 128. The few A.A. history writers and Christian critics of A.A. are
often quick to assert that Bill Wilson could not possibly have been a
Christian because of his alleged beliefs about Jesus Christ. The problem is
that there is no evidence that they have examined or understood the
Confession of Faith and Church Covenant of both the Manchester and the East
Dorset Congregational Churches which would readily clear up their
misunderstanding should they choose to accept the facts discovered. In fact,
one of the first A.A. history writers made the untenable statement that
little is known about Wilson’s religious background because there is little
to know—a blatant admission that there was lots about Wilson’s Christian
upbringing, his Congregational Churches and chapels, and his Bible studies
that such writers just never investigated and hence don’t know.
[Young Men’s
Christian Association-Bill as President, girl friend as YWCA President,
active in both]
Bill W., My First
Forty Years, 29
Robert Thomsen,
Bill W., 57
Frederica
Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture, 78-79, 69
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
[Bill’s return to
Jesus Christ, the “Great Physician,” in despair, on the advice that this
Great Physician can and does cure alcoholics].
Dick B.,
Turning Point: A
History of the Spiritual Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, 99-100.
The Conversion of
Bill W., 47, 94,
A New Way In:
Telling the Truth, 61-66.
Norman Vincent
Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ. 1980.
Bill W. My First 40
Years
Dale Mitchel,
Silkworth, The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 60-63.
Mel B.,
Ebby: The Man Who
Sponsored Bill W.
New Wine: The
Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle
“Lois Remembers:
Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days”: Recorded in Dallas, Texas, June 29,
1973.
T. Willard Hunter,
It Started Right There
W. Irving Harris,
The Breeze of the Spirit
“Pass It On”
William James, The
Varieties of Religious Experience
[Bill Wilson’s
first unsuccessful attempts for six months to carry a message]
William Borchert,
When Love is Not Enough
Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 191.
Lois Remembers,
94-95
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 64-65
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 9-10, 26.
[Alcoholics
Anonymous History – The Fellowship Begins]
How the First Three
AAs Got Sober by simply turning to God for help.
Bill W.
[As a youngster in
Vermont, Bill had repeatedly heard the story of how his alcoholic grandfather
Willie had been converted to God through Jesus Christ on a mountaintop next
to Bill’s village. Willie was saved, said so, and never touched a drop during
the remaining years of his life. And Bill was no stranger to revivals,
conversion meetings, temperance meetings, and salvation teachings—the latter
in his church and Sunday school
(1) Dr. Carl Jung
had told Rowland Hazard that he had the mind of a chronic alcoholic and that
a conversion experience might heal him
(2) Rowland Hazard
made a decision for Jesus Christ, joined the Oxford Group, and worked
actively with Rev. Sam Shoemaker.
(3) Rowland and two
other Oxford Group friends told Bill Wilson’s long-time drinking friend Ebby
Thacher the solution that Jung had proffered. Rowland taught him about the
efficacy of prayer. He informed Ebby of a number of the Oxford Group’s
Christian principals. Then Ebby was lodged in Calvary Rescue Mission in New
York.
(4) Meanwhile, Bill
Wilson had made his third visit to Towns Hospital. Dr. William D. Silkworth,
Bill’s psychiatrist, had a long talk. Silkworth had given Bill a virtual
death sentence contingent upon his continuing to drink. Dr. Silkworth, a
devout Christian and a long-time parishioner of Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary
Church, told Bill Wilson that the “Great Physician” Jesus Christ could cure
Bill.
(5) In this same
period, Ebby Thacher had made a decision for Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission,
decided to witness to Bill, visited Bill, and told Bill what had happened at
the Mission.
(6) Bill decided to
check out Ebby’s story and went to hear him give testimony at Calvary Church.
(7) Bill decided
that since the Great Physician had helped Ebby recover, he might help Bill.
(8) Bill W.
accepted Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission, wrote in his autobiography that
“For sure I had been born again.”
(9) Bill continued
to drink, became severely depressed, and thought, If there be a Great
Physician, I had better call on him.
(10) Bill staggered
on to Towns Hospital drunk and very depressed and was hospitalized.
(11) He said to
himself, “I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician,
I’ll call on him.
(12) He cried out,
“If there be a God let him show himself.”
(13) He said the
effect was, instant, electric. Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably
white light.
(14) He continued:
Then, seen in the mind’s eye, there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit
where a great wind blew. A wind, not of air, but of spirit. In great, clean
strength it blew right through me.
(15) The light and
the ecstasy subsided. Bill became more quiet. A great peace stole over him.
(16) Then he became
acutely conscious of a presence which seemed like a “veritable sea of living
spirit.”
(17) He thought,
“This must be the great reality.” And in one account, he said to himself:
Bill, you are a free man. This is “the God of the Scriptures.”
(18) He said, “I
thanked my God who had given me a glimpse of His absolute Self.
(19) He said that
faith had suddenly appeared—no blind faith—but faith fortified by the
consciousness of the presence of God.
(20) Briefly he
stopped doubting God and said “this great and sudden gift of grace has always
been mine.”
(21) He never drank
again.
(22) But he did
have his “hour of doubt.”
(23) Dr. Silkworth
appeared and sat by Bill’s bed. Bill told Silkworth what had happened. Bill
asked: “Doctor, is this real? Am I still perfectly sane?”
(24) Sikworth
assured him that he was sane. He said “You have had some kind of conversion
experience.”
(25) Ebby showed up
at the hospital, agreed with Bill that he and Bill had a release that was a
gift, real. He handed Bill a copy of a book by Professor William James. It
was called “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” Bill he had read it “all
day.”
(26) The James book
was filled with studies and stories of the cure of alcoholism at missions
such as the one founded by Jerry McAuley at 316 Water Street in 1872, and
later (in 1882) at 104 West Thirty-second Street, known as Cremorne Mission.
In 1886, S.H. Hadley took charge of the Water Street Mission. Hadley had been
converted at Jerry McAuley’s Cremorne Mission, and in the years of service in
Water Street not less than seventy-five thousand persons came to the mission
for help. Hadley died in 1906.
(27) Before his
discharge from Towns Hospital in December of 1935, Wilson had been inspired
to help drunks everywhere.
(28) On his
discharge, he raced feverishly to the streets, the missions, the hospitals,
the Bowery, and flea bag hotels. He went with a Bible under his arm and
insisted that drunks give their lives to God.
(29) Bill’s story
is briefly told as follows in the Big Book: “Henrietta, the Lord has been so
wonderful to me curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep
talking about it and telling people.”
(30) But in his
first six months of witnessing, Bill was unable to get a single person
sober.]
Dr. Bob
[Dr. Bob was born
in St. Johnsbury, Vermont when the entire state was still swirling from the
effect of “The Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury.”
(1) His parents
were married when the events were taking place. They taught Bob about
salvation and the Word of God.
(2) He heard
similar sermons and teachings in the family’s North Congregational Church of
St. Johnsbury.
(3) Temperance was
in the air.
(4) The Young Men’s
Christian Association had been active in bringing about the Great Awakening
and was still very active during Bob’s growing-up period.
(5) The great
evangelists—Moody, Sankey, Moorehouse, Meyer, and Folger--had inspired
Vermont with their talk of salvation, the Bible, and God’s healing power.
(6) The Salvation
Army was becoming well known for its outreach and resulting healing of
derelicts and drunks.
(7) So too were the
rescue mission events involving Jerry McAuley, Water Street Mission, and S.H.
Hadley.
(8) The Young
People’s Society of Christian Endeavor, in which Dr. Bob was active, had laid
out a program of confession of Jesus Christ, conversions, Bible study
meetings, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour observances, and reading and speaking
on Christian literature. Their program, though not aimed at drunkards, was
certainly focused on bringing young people back to their churches.
(9) In his early
sobriety, Dr. Bob had turned back to church for himself and Sunday school for
his children. And the program of the early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship
closely resembled the conversions which were so much a part of Bill’s life,
and the principles and practices of Christian Endeavor.]
[Dr. Bob’s road
back to sobriety could—like Bill Wilson’s—be said to have begun when he was
at the bottom of the heap in 1931. I learned little about him at that time.
But I researched and learned a lot about what happened in Akron in 1931. It
revolved around the Firestone family, and Harvey’s protégé Jim Newton—a young
man from Florida. When Jim arrived in Akron, he befriended Russell Firestone
but found that Russell had a serious drinking problem. Jim tried to help
Russell by Oxford Group techniques. But finally, the family decided to call
in Rev. Sam Shoemaker of New York—an Oxford Group leader of that time. They
(Harvey, Russell, Jim and Sam) boarded a train for a Bishop’s conference in
Denver—with Russell well supplied with liquor. But on the trip back, Sam
Shoemaker took Russell into a train compartment and led Russell to a new
birth in Christ. By the time the train arrived back in Akron, Russell was
healed, and his doctor felt it was a miracle. Russell and Jim then began
traveling together and witnessing to others about the Oxford Group’s
life-changing program. By 1933, the family was elated at Russell’s progress.
They invited Dr. Frank Buchman and a retinue of some 30 Oxford Group
activists to come to Akron, speak in the pulpits and public places, and
inform the press. I have personally seen the Akron newspapers of that early
1933 period; and they are alive with talk of Russell and his “miracle,” of
Jesus Christ, of the Bible, and of Christianity. And a large part of the town
turned out to hear Russell, Jim, Buchman, and others give testimony.]
[The wheels of
sobriety began to grind for Dr. Bob. His friend Henrietta Seiberling and his
wife Anne attended the 1933 functions. They were excited. They persuaded Dr.
Bob to join a small Oxford Group. And, though he continued to drink, Dr. Bob
read all the Oxford Group literature he could get his hands on. He studied
the Bible extensively once again. He read it from cover to cover three times.
He prayed. And he enjoyed the people. But he concluded to Henrietta that he
just didn’t want to quit drinking and was a “wanta wanta” guy. But Henrietta
was undeterred. She convened a tiny group, including Bob. They all engaged in
life-changing stories. Dr. Bob joined in and confessed that he was a “secret
drinker.” Henrietta asked him if he wanted to pray for his deliverance. And
Bob joined the group on his knees on the rug at the T. Henry Williams home,
asking God for help. Help did not come at once. But a seemingly miraculous
phone call reached Henrietta from an unknown stranger from New York. It was
Bill Wilson saying that he was an Oxford Grouper, a rum hound from New York,
and needed to talk with a drunk. Henrietta was sure this was an answer to the
prayers and thought of Bill, “This is manna from heaven.” She arranged a
visit at her home between Bob and Bill. It lasted six hours. Bob said he had
heard it all before, but that Bill talked his language—the story of a drunk.
Bob said he picked up on the idea of “service” which was something his
religious endeavors had not gotten through to him.
And, after one last
binge, Bob quit forever while Bill Wilson was living with the Smiths in their
home.]
Bill Dotson (A.A.
Number Three)
[We have run across
very little concerning Bill Dotson, except as set forth in the biographical
information above. However, we know for sure that: (1) Dotson was an attorney
in Akron. (2) Dotson believed in God, went to church, taught Sunday school,
and became a Deacon in the church. (3) His alcoholism had progressed to the
point that he had been strapped to a hospital bed eight times in the preceding
months. (4) And when Dr. Bob inquired of a nurse whether there was a
hospitalized drunk who needed help, she told them she had a dandy—Bill
Dotson. (5) Bill and Bob visited Dotson, told him their stories, told him he
needed to seek God’s help, and that—upon being healed—he must go out and help
others in like situations. (6) Dotson did turn to God for help and was
instantly cured. In fact, he subscribed to Bill Wilson’s statement on page
191 of the Big Book that “the Lord had cured” him and that he just wanted to
keep talking about it and telling people. He called the statement the “golden
text of A.A.” for him and for others. (7) And, when Bill and Bob had returned
to the hospital, Dotson had been relieved of his drinking problem, He left
the hospital with his wife. The date was July 4, 1935; and Bill Wilson
proclaimed that as the founding date for A.A.’s first group—Akron Number One.
Dotson remained active in A.A. and often led groups with a Bible in his lap,
ready to help someone who needed help.]
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous (Pamphlet P-53)
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed,, 2010.
“Introductory
Foundations for Christian Recovery” Class
The Original Akron
A.A. Christian Fellowship Program Founded in June, 1935, and the first
group—Akron Number One—founded July 4, 1935 when Bill D. was cured.
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis
of Alcoholics Anonymous
The Good Book and
the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible
Turning Point: The
Spiritual History of Alcoholics Anonymous
Henrietta B.
Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 66-72.
The Principles and
Practices of the Original Akron A.A. Pioneers
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide 3rd ed., 2010
Stick with the
Winners!
Pioneer Stories in
Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in Recovery Confirmed
Dick B.,
When Early AAs Were
Cured and Why
Real 12 Step
Fellowship History
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Sue Smith Windows
and Robert R. Smith, Children of the Healer, 1992
The Role of the
Bible in Earliest A.A.
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Dick B.,
The Good Book and
The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible
The Good Book-Big
Book Guidebook
The James Club and
the Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials
Anne Smith’s
Journal 1933-1939
Why Early A.A.
Succeeded (A Bible Study Primer)
Cured: Proven Help
for Alcoholics and Addicts
The First
Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference
“Prayer and
Meditation” in Earliest A.A.
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Dick B., Good
Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A.
Howard Rose, The
Quiet Time
Donald Carruthers,
How to Find Reality in Your Morning Devotions, Penn State College, n.d.
Nora Smith Holm,
The Runner’s Bible
Oswald Chambers, My
Utmost for His Highest
Henry Drummond: The
Greatest Thing in the World
E. Stanley Jones,
Victorious Living
Mary W. Tileston,
Daily Strength for Daily Needs
The Upper Room
The “Real
Surrender” to Jesus Christ in Early A.A.
Dick B.,
The Golden Text of
A.A.
A New Way In
When Early AAs Were
Cured and Why
That Amazing Grace
A New Way Out: New
Path, Familiar Road Signs, Our Creator’s Guidance
Mitchell K., How It
Worked
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
[The Akron Formula
for Christian Fellowship Recovery]
[Bible based,
Christ-centered, bringing the Creator’s Power and Cures Back into Focus. And
we believe the following are the ingredients common to most all successful
Christian efforts to bring deliverance to alcoholics:
1. The choice of
abstinence.
2. The choice of
avoiding temptation.
3. The choice of
entrusting one’s life to the care, direction, and strength of the Creator.
4. The choice of
establishing a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
5. The choice of
obeying His commandments and eliminating sinful conduct—putting off the “old
man.”
6. The choice of
growing in knowledge and fellowship with Him, His son, and His children
through Bible study, prayer, religious fellowship, worship, and
witness—putting on the “new man.”
7. The choice of
passing along to others with love and service the message that will enable
those others to help and be helped in the same manner.]
Dick B., A New Way
Out, 63-64.
The Daily Meetings,
Family Emphasis, and Close Contacts Among Members—Resemblance to First
Century Christianity
[A.A. History –
A.A. and First Century Christianity. There were multiple “First Century
Christianity” at Work in A.A. Quotes Among The Rockefeller People Who
Investigated. Five of the Rockefeller people involved with the Frank Amos
report commented as follows on the First Century Christianity nature of the
Akron A.A.:
Frank Amos: As
stated, Rockefeller’s investigator Frank Amos had observed that the meetings
of Akron people had, in many respects, taken on the form of the meetings
described in the Gospels of the early Christians during the first century
(Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, pp. 135-36)
Albert Scott: In
December, 1936. a meeting was held in John D. Rockefeller’s private board
room. Bill W., Dr. Bob, Dr. Silkworth, Dr. Leonard Strong, and some
alcoholics from New York and Akron met with Rockefeller’s associates Willard
Richardson, A. Leroy Chapman, Frank Amos, and Albert Scott. The meeting was
chaired by Albert Scott, chairman of the board of trustees of New York’s
Riverside Church. Each alcoholic was enjoined to tell his own personal story,
after which, the chairman Albert Scott exclaimed, “Why, this is first-century
Christianity. What can we do to help?” (Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p.
148)
Nelson Rockefeller:
In February of 1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. had arranged a dinner for Bill
and the AAs. John D. had intended to attend, but was too ill to do so and
sent his son Nelson Rockefeller to host the dinner. As Bill’s wife Lois
Wilson records in her memoirs, “When Nelson finally got up to talk, there was
a great deal of expectancy. He told how impressed his father [John D., Jr..]
was with this unique movement, which resembled early Christianity.” (Lois
Remembers, pp. 128-29)
Willard Richardson
and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., himself: What they’d been hearing, he [Albert
Scott] said, was like first century Christianity, where one person carried
the word to the next. . . . Willard Richardson was in charge of all John D.
Jr.’s philanthropies. . . Willard Richardson added his approval to the report
and immediately passed it on to Mr. [John D.] Rockefeller. . . Rockefeller
was impressed. He saw the parallel with early Christianity and along with
this he spotted a combination of medicine and religion that appealed to all
his charitable inclinations (Robert Thomsen, Bill W., pp. 274-75).
The best
comparative material showing what the Apostolic Christians did can be found
in Acts 2:41-47:
“Then they that
gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added
[unto them] about three thousand souls.
And they continued
stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers.
And fear came upon
every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that
believed were together, and had all things common;
And sold their
possessions and goods, and parted them to all [men], as every man had need.
And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Praising God, and
having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved.
Not surprisingly,
Dr. Bob, co-founder of A.A. frequently called the early A.A. Akron program a
"Christian Fellowship"
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.
The Counting of
Noses in November, 1937 that proved God had shown the founders how to succeed
[DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers also comments on the November 1937 meeting between Bill W. and
Dr. Bob which led to the decision that a book about their cure for alcoholism
would be needed.
In November of that
year [i.e., 1937], Bill Wilson went on a business trip that enabled him to
make a stopover in Akron. . . .
Bill's writings
record the day he sat in the living room with Doc, counting recoveries.
"A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober a
couple of years," he said. "All told, we figured that upwards of 40
alcoholics were staying bone dry
Up to then,
prospects had come to the founders from other cities. Now, the question was
whether every alcoholic had to come to Akron or New York to get sober. Was it
possible to reach distant alcoholics? Was it possible for the Fellowship to
grow "rapidly and soundly"?
This was when Bill
began to think . . . of writing a book of experiences that would carry the
message of recovery to other cities and other countries.
Let us now look at
this vitally-significant, November 1937 meeting in more detail.
In an October 1945
article in the A.A. Grapevine titled "The Book Is Born," Bill
referred to his meeting with Dr. Bob in Akron in November 1937 as follows:
By the fall of 1937
we could count what looked like forty recovered members. One of us had been
sober three years, another two and a half, and a fair number had a year or
more behind them. As all of us had been hopeless cases, this amount of time
elapsed began to be significant. The realization that we had "found
something" began to take hold of us. No longer were we a dubious
experiment. Alcoholics could stay sober. Great numbers, perhaps! While some
of us had always clung to this possibility, the dream now had real substance.
If forty alcoholics could recover, why not four hundred, four thousand — even
forty thousand. RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB
(NY: A.A. Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8.
The article from
which this quote is taken also occurs in The Language of the Heart and is
titled "Dr. Bob: A Tribute." This quote appears on page 359 of that
article.
In the quote above,
Bill spoke of having counted "what looked like forty recovered
members." He also speculated about possible, much larger numbers of
alcoholics—"even forty thousand"—recovering.
Bill W. spoke more
clearly and at greater length about his November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in
Akron in his tribute to Dr. Bob in the special memorial issue of The A.A.
Grapevine in January 1951 titled "RHS":
Meanwhile a small
group had taken shape in New York. The Akron meeting at T. Henry's home began
to have a few Cleveland visitors. At this juncture I spent a week visiting
Dr. Bob. We commenced to count noses. Out of hundreds of alcoholics, how many
had stuck? How many were sober? And for how long? In that fall of 1937 Bob
and I counted forty cases who had significant dry time — maybe sixty years
for the whole lot of them! Our eyes glistened. Enough time had elapsed on
enough cases to spell out something quite new, perhaps something great
indeed. . . . A beacon had been lighted. God had shown alcoholics how it
might be passed from hand to hand. Never shall I forget that great and
humbling hour of realization, shared with Dr. Bob.
But the new
realization faced us with a great problem, a momentous decision. It had taken
nearly three years to effect forty recoveries. The United States alone
probably had a million alcoholics. How were we to get the story to them?
Here again, Bill
declares that he and Dr. Bob "counted forty cases who had significant
dry time" and refers to "forty recoveries." And note that Bill
credited God with having shown them "how it might be passed from hand to
hand." RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB (NY:
A.A. Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8. The article from which this quote is taken
also occurs in The Language of the Heart and is titled "Dr. Bob: A
Tribute." This quote appears on page 359 of that article.
Bill wrote about
his November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:
. . . [T]his trip
[in the fall of 1937] gave me a much needed chance to visit Dr. Bob in Akron.
It was on a November day in that year [of 1937] when Dr. Bob and I sat in his
living room, counting the noses of our recoveries. There had been failures
galore, but now we could see some startling successes too. A hard core of
very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober a couple of years, an
unheard-of development. There were twenty or more such people. All told we
figured that upwards of forty alcoholics were staying bone dry.
. . . [A] benign
chain reaction, one alcoholic carrying the good news to the next, had started
outward from Dr. Bob and me. Conceivably it could one day circle the whole
world. What a tremendous thing that realization was! At last we were sure. .
. . We actually wept for joy, and Bob and Anne and I bowed our heads in
silent prayer. Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 76. See also: Debra Jay, No
More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and
Drug Addiction (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 2006), 287-88.
Here again, we see
Bill commenting about the "upwards of forty alcoholics" who
"were staying bone dry," while speaking almost in the same breath
about how "it could one day circle the whole world."
The A.A. General
Service Conference-approved book "Pass It On" also discusses this
November 1937 meeting.
“Later in 1937,
Bill . . . did visit Bob and Anne in Akron. It was on this visit that the two
men conducted a "formal" review of their work of the past two
years.
What they came to
realize as a result of that review was astounding: Bill may have been
stretching things when he declared that at least 20 cases had been sober a
couple of years; but by counting everybody who seemed to have found sobriety
in New York and Akron, they concluded that more than 40 alcoholics were
staying dry as a result of the program! "Pass It On": The Story of
Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York, NY:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 177-78.
Bill W. also spoke
briefly about this meeting with Dr. Bob—without mentioning numbers of
recoveries—in his May 1955 article in the A.A. Grapevine titled "How
AA's World Services Grew, Part 1," in The Language of the Heartt, See
also: Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 224-25.
Bill W.'s wife Lois
remarked on the 40 in her memoirs:
The business
depression returned in 1937, and toward the end of the year Quaw and Foley
had to let Bill go. He went to Detroit and Cleveland looking for new job
ideas and, of course, stopped off at Akron on the way
He and Bob assessed
the current status of the movement. They were surprised to find that,
although many of those they had worked with had fallen by the way, forty
members enjoyed an average of two years' solid sobriety. This was
flabbergasting, awe-inspiring. They really had hit on a program for helping
alcoholics. Now they saw it could develop into something tremendous—if it was
not diluted or garbled by word of mouth. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the
Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New
York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., 1987), 107.
Here are some key
comments about this important tally of successes by other writers. And we
believe that all these comments should be taken as a whole,
compounded, and absorbed. For a few cynical A.A. writers have said that
talking about this November “nose counting” and the forty sober alcoholics is
somehow frivolous worship of a non-existent golden age of A.A. In fact,
however, A.A. with its inadequate funding, unknown founders, and somewhat
tawdry group of alcoholic organizers were hardly capable of producing a
“golden age.” But what they did produce was an astonishing record in the face
of repeated declarations that medical cure of alcoholics was an
impossibility, that there was little hope of anything but death or insanity
for the addicted sufferer, and that repeaters were so commonplace they
weren’t worth the effort to help them—except for such benign people as Dr.
Silkworth, the Salvation Army, the Rescue Missions, the evangelists, and the
concerns of the YMCA. In other words, Bill and Bob embarked almost alone on a
seemingly hopeless and impossible task and, between 1935 and late 1937 they
had turned hopelessness into hope, medical incurability into cure, and death
and insanity into manageable proportions. How?
By giving their
lives to God! That’s how. And in many cases, it took little but a dedication
to quitting forever, a devoted surrender to God, and an unpaid service to
those who still suffered.
That was not a
golden age. It was a case of some thirty or forty miracles. And it caught
attention.
In November [of
1937] Bill had to make a trip to the Midwest in connection with the brokerage
job he was trying to nail down. Although nothing came of his efforts
concerning the job—another depression had hit the country in the fall of
'37—the trip gave him an opportunity to visit Dr. Bob in Akron. Bill had been
sober almost three years, Bob two and a half, and this, they figured, should
be ample time for them to see where they were and even make some sort of
informal progress report.
There had been
failures galore. Literally hundreds of drunks had been approached by their
two groups and some had sobered up for a brief period but then slipped away.
They were both conscious of their failures as they settled down in Bob's
living room and began comparing notes. But as the afternoon wore on and they
continued going over lists, counting noses, they found themselves facing a
staggering fact. In all, in Ohio and in New York, they knew forty alcoholics
who were sober and were staying sober, and of this number at least twenty had
been completely dry for more than a year. Moreover, every single one of them
had been diagnosed a hopeless case.
As they sat, each
with a paper in hand, checking and rechecking the score, a strange thing
happened; they both fell silent. This was more than a game they were playing,
more than a little casual bookkeeping to be used for a report. There were
forty names representing forty men whose lives had been changed, who actually
were alive tonight because of what had started in this very room. The chain
reaction they had dreamed about—one alcoholic carrying the word to
another—was a reality. It had moved onward, outward from them. Robert
Thomsen, Bill W. (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 266-67.
Although Bill
Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had communicated through dozens of letters, sitting
down together again after almost two years turned out to be an astonishing
experience. Whey they compared notes in person, they realized that they had
actually found something that doctors and laymen had been searching for as
long as anyone could remember: a way to help alcoholics get sober that
actually worked. Between them they counted forty men who hadn't had a drink
in more than a year Susan Cheever, My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson: His Life
and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Washington Square
Press, 2004), 147.
In November [of
1937], Bill . . . was able to spend some time in Akron. . . .
. . . He and the
Smiths decided to take an inventory. Among those they had tried to help, the
failures were endless, and many of those who seemed sincerely willing to try
their approach were struggling. When they were done counting, though, they
realized that between Akron and New York there were now forty alcoholics
staying sober, and half of them had not had a drink for more than a year.
Francis Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder
Bill Wilson (NY: St. Martins Press, 2000), 101.]
The Documented 75%
Success Rate in the Akron A.A. Program
Richard K., Early
A.A.—Separating Fact from Fiction: How Revisionists Have Led Our History
Astray, 2003
Richard K. New
Freedom: Reclaiming Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005
The one-page list
in the hand of Dr. Bob—now in the Rockefeller Archives
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd 2010
Bill Wilson’s
Preparation for a New, Oxford Group-Oriented Program
The Preparation of
the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
[This story begins
with what Bill Wilson had learned from his extensive contacts with the Oxford
Group, its meetings, its house parties, its teams, and Oxford Group leaders
and activists such as Dr. Frank N.D. Buchman, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker,
Irving Harris and his wife, Rowland Hazard, Shep Cornell, Cebra Graves,
Garrett Stearly, Cleve Hicks, Victor Kitchen, Garth Lean, and others. He
learned Oxford Group ideas from Shoemaker, Rowland Hazard, Ebby Thacher, and
attendance at their meetings. Bill is mentioned personally in some of the
Shoemaker personal journals we have seen. He was given a major post in
bringing the president of the League of Nations to America. Bill left the
Oxford Group in August of 1937, but he soon returned to become a personal
friend and collaborator with Sam Shoemaker. Bill had gone to Akron to obtain
permission to write a book, and he received it—by a bare majority of those
voting. According to Bill, Shoemaker, and Irving Harris, Bill began working
with Shoemaker on the contents of the book. They were closeted in Shoemaker’s
book-lined study at Calvary House. Bill showed Shoemaker the first manuscript
of the book. And he actually asked Shoemaker to write the Twelve Steps though
Shoemaker declined. This charts the Big Book connections. And part of the
preparations for the book were the so-called six word-of-mouth ideas Bill
claimed were being used before the Big Book. Bill said there was no agreement
on the contents of the six, and their contents certainly differed.
Here are the
various ways Bill’s alleged six “steps” were phrased, for example, as to God
1, “We prayed to
God.” See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 256-257; The
Language of the Heart, 200; William White, Slaying the Dragon, 132.
2. “We prayed to
whatever God we thought there was.” Dick B., The Akron Genesis, 256; “Pass It
On,” 197; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. 160; Jared Lobdell, This Strange
Illness, 242.
3. “We prayed to
God as you understand him.” Jared Lobdell, This Strange Illness, 242; Dick
B., Turning Point, 100.
4. Bill Wilson also
said his “six steps” came from the Oxford Group; and Lois Wilson contended
that the Oxford Group said: “Surrender your life to God.” Lois Remembers, 92;
Dick B., The Akron Genesis, 257.
But, acting on the
research and opinion of Oxford Group activist T. Willard Hunter, A.A.’s own
publication “Pass It On” concluded the Oxford Group had no such six steps or
any steps at all.“ Pass It On,” 206, Footnote
5. From some source
or for some reason undocumented and seemingly false, the purported author of
a Big Book personal story titled, “8. HE SOLD HIMSELF SHORT,” (almost
certainly Earl Treat of Chicago) was quoted with reference to six steps plus
several other ideas attributed to Dr. Bob as saying: “Dependence and guidance
from a Higher Power.” The story was added to the 1956 edition of Alcoholics
Anonymous several years after Dr. Bob’s death. And it is my opinion, based on
extensive research of and writing about Dr. Bob that the language on page 263
is language easily attributable to Bill Wilson but not typical of the way Dr.
Bob spoke of God as “Heavenly Father” and “God” and not as some higher power.
Examples of the questionable words are: 1. “Complete deflation.” 2.
“Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.” Dr. Bob had apparently asked a
newcomer if he believed in “God”—not “a god”—God!
6. In The
Language of the Heart, in an article dated July, 1953, Bill makes the
following comments about his six word-of-mouth ideas: “. . . our growing
groups at Akron, New York, and Cleveland evolved the so-called word-of-mouth
program of our pioneering time. As we commenced to form a Society separate
from the Oxford Group, we began to state our principles something like this.
. . . Though these principles were advocated according to the whim or liking
of each of us, and though in Akron and Cleveland they still stuck by the O.G.
absolutes of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, this was the gist of
our message to incoming alcoholics up to 1939. . .,” 200.
To see some of the
inconsistencies in Bill’s statements and dates, consider these points: (a)
Bill and Lois left the Oxford Group in August of 1937. (b) In 1938, Frank
Amos summarized the Akron program in seven points—practically none of which
paralleled Bill’s six. DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131. (c) Clarence
Snyder did not found the Cleveland groups until May of 1939, after the Big
Book’s April publishing date. (d) In his two major speeches in 1948. Dr. Bob
spoke about prayer and reading the Bible. He spoke favorably about the Four
Absolutes. He said nothing that indicated he had departed from his adherence
to the seven points summarized by Frank Amos in 1938
o For example, in
referring to God, Bill spoke of praying to God, praying to God as you
understood Him, and praying to whatever God you think there is. In one
recital of the six points attributed without documentation to Dr Bob (a
recital that I believe Bill himself wrote) the writer of the story uses and
speaks typical Bill Wilson language—higher power, deflation in depth, and
other ideas that I have not seen in usage in any other materials attributed
to Bob and his Akron ideas.
o The first phase
of Big Book preparation itself took the form of two chapters that Bill wrote
in reverse order to those in the first two chapters of the Big Book. “Pass It
On,’ 193. He then began sending the chapters, one by one, to Dr. Bob in Akron
for approval. And the approval was forthcoming. Details are set forth in Dick
B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 233-239;
o At some point,
the materials were assembled into what has been called the “multi-lith.” This
was sent out to somewhere between 200 and 400 people for their comments.”Pass
It On,” 200.Then they consolidated all comments on one multi-lith which can
be seen in The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics
Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2010.
· Other important
changes occurred along the way, at times and by persons I have been unable to
identify though much effort has been expended in that direction. So I will
simply list several of the changes made before and perhaps during the
handling of the Working Manuscript. These were: (1) A large amount of
material containing Christian and biblical material had been discarded over
the objections of John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo. It had apparently contained material
“learned from the missions and the churches that had helped AAs.” The discard
was verified in a conversation between Ruth Hock, the typist and secretary
and Bill Pittman, director of historical information at Hazelden. (2) We know
that at least 400 pages of manuscript material was cut by an editor, but no
one who described the incident—even though hired by A.A. General Services to
write “Pass It On”—could confirm anything but the truthfulness of the 400
page discard. But not what the pages contained or who discarded them. “Pass
It On,” 204. (3) Tom Uzzell of New York University edited the manuscript, and
I have been unable to locate any information about him at NYU or concerning
the changes he made. “Pass It On,” 204. (4) Substantial changes were made in
the Working Manuscript itself. They were hand-written, and the authors have
not yet been identified. However, it was then that Steps Two, Three, and
Eleven were changed to eliminate the word “God.” And the changes were made in
a compromise designed to appease atheists and agnostics. “Pass It On,” 199.
Bill described the contending forces. He said: “Fitz wanted a powerfully
religious book. Henry and Jimmy wanted none of it. They wanted a
psychological book. . .” Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 17. Bill said,
“All this time I had refused to budge on these steps. I would not change a
word of the original draft, in which, you will remember, I had consistently
used the word “God,” and in one place the expression “on our knees” was used.
The changes from “God” to “Power greater than ourselves” and to “God as we
understood Him. Such were the final concessions to those of little or no
faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics.”
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166-167. “Fitz thought that the book ought
to be Christian in the doctrinal sense of the word and that it should say so.
He was in favor of using Biblical terms and expressions to make this clear. .
. Paul K. was even more emphatic. Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162.
· But Lois Wilson
described those change those changes as follows: “The pros and cons were
mostly about the tone of the book. Some wanted it slanted more toward the
Christian religion—others, less. Many alcoholics were agnostics or atheists.
Then there were those of the Jewish faith and, around the world, of other
religions. Shouldn’t the book be written so that it would appeal to them?
Finally it was agreed that the book should present a universal spiritual
program, not a specific one, since all drunks were not Christian.” Lois
Remembers, 113.
It is more than
fair to say that the end result of the 1939 Big Book project was far far
different from the program summarized as the Akron program by Frank Amos.
Thus Bill finally made the following admissions in The Language of the Heart,
pp. 297-298:
So, then, how did
we first learn that alcoholism is such a fearful sickness as this? Who gave
us this priceless information on which the effectiveness of our program so
much depends? Well, it came from my own doctor, “the ;little doctor who loved
drunks,” William D. Silkworth. More than twenty-five years ago at Towns
Hospital, New York, he told Lois and me what the disease of alcoholism
actually is
Of course, we have
since found that these awful conditions of mind and body invariably bring on
the third phase of our malady. This is the sickness of the spirit; a sickness
for which there must be a spiritual remedy. We AAs recognize this in the
first five words of Step Twelve of the recovery program . . . Here we declare
the necessity for that all important spiritual awakening. Who,then, first
told us about the utter necessity for such an awakening, for an experience
that not only expels the alcohol obsession, but which also makes effective
and truly real the practice of spiritual principles “in all our affairs”?
Well, this life-giving idea came to us AA through William James, the father
of modern psychology. It came through his famous book Varieties of Religious
Experience. . . William James also heavily emphasized the need for hitting
bottom/ Thus did he reinforce AA’s Step One and so did he supply us with the
spiritual essence of Step Twelve.
Where did the early
AAs find the material for the remaining ten Steps? Where did we learn about
moral inventory, amends for harms done, turning wills and lives over to God?
Where did we learn about meditation and prayer and all the rest of it? The
spiritual substance of our remaining ten Steps came straight from Dr. Bob’s
and my own earlier association with the Oxford Groups, as they were then led
in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr. Samuel M. Shoemaker.
Learning the
difference between this twelve step program which Bill said emanated from Sam
Shoemaker and Dr. Bob’s statement that the basic ideas came from their study
and effort in the Bible. And the summarized heart of that program is found in
the Frank Amos report in DR BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131:
Following
his visit to Akron in February 1938, Frank Amos, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s
agent, summarized the original Akron A.A. “Program” in seven points. Here are
those points, as quoted in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers:
· An alcoholic must
realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that
he must never drink anything with alcohol in it.
· He must surrender
himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope.
· Not only must he
want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins
such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism.
Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work
with him
· He must have
devotions every morning—a “quiet time” of prayer and some reading from the
Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed,
there is grave danger of backsliding
· He must be
willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a
protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions.
· It is important,
but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and
form both a social and a religious comradeship.
· Important, but
not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.
And we believe that
if you master the original program, study the Big Book, look at our history,
and then take the Twelve Steps, it is possible to get the best results from
the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship—just as Clarence Snyder did when he
brought those elements to Cleveland and soon measured a 93% success rate
there. As a matter of fact, International Christian Recovery Coalition grows
each day, has now participants in 50 states and in other countries—dedicated
to friendship. By that, they mean: 1. Tell people the role that God, His Son
Jesus Christ, and the Bible truly played in the recovery scene. 2. Show them
from their own Conference-approved literature today exactly how and why the
door is wide open to those who want to benefit from and serve in the A.A.
and/or 12 Step program that made them so welcome in their early days. 3. Be
friendly with those in the fellowship who do or don’t believe in God, the
Bible, Jesus Christ, or anything; help them with basic facts from history and
official literature; and stand confidently on their right to pursue their own
beliefs in complete accord with A.A.’s history, Steps, and Traditions.
Gloria Deo
|
Monday, April 15, 2013
Dick B., Author and A.A. Historian Explains A.A. History in Terms of its Solution--Establishing a Relationship with God
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