For many years, my son Ken and I have watched as book after book, guide after guide, "Bible" after Bible, workbook after workbook, and "scholarly" papers on A.A. have uniformly tended to miss the boat when it came to researching and reporting "real" Alcoholics Anonymous History.
By this, I mean they have often and erroneously attributed A.A.'s origins to the Oxford Group. In so doing, they have failed to research or report the Christian upbringing of A.A.'s cofounders. They have failed to report how the first three AAs got sober without the Oxford Group and without Steps, Traditions, or Big Book. They have failed to report the immense influence on A.A. and its founders of the Bible--in the case of Akron A.A.--and Rev. Sam Shoemaker--when it came to the language of the Big Book and 12 Steps. And they have failed to give the Bible the prominence it had in early A.A. where it was used at every meeting, taught by the leaders, and read by the newcomers and oldtimers alike.
They have fallen into the trap of emphasizing the supposed importance of the Washingtonians while ignoring the fact that this movement--though large--was of short duration, failed utterly, and did not at all emphasize belief in or reliance on God.
They have often failed to report the importance of the Book of James, Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 in early A.A. and even of the quotes in Bill's Big Book from these sources. Also failed to note how many times the early writings, devotionals like The Runner's Bible and the Upper Room, and books like Drummond's The Greatest Thing in the World (1 Cor 13) popped up again and again in the books and pamphlets of early A.A. and even in the Oxford Group at times.
This is not a treatise on what has been missing.
It is a report on why we have recently undertaken several projects in which fine Christian writers who are deep into recovery work invited us to write introductions or appendices to their books and workbooks and even the Big Book reprint. These simply introduce readers of all stripes and hues to the important Christian origins, history, founding, original program, and great successes of the Akron Christian Fellowship. They document the early Christian program principles. They detail the 16 practices that the early AAs used. All when there were no Steps, no Traditions, no Big Book pages, no drunkalogs, and no meetings as we know them today.
There is a growing mighty wind of interest and desire to learn accurate Alcoholics Anonymous History, to report it widely, to present it accurately and completely, to teach it frequently, to incorporate it in Christian recovery work and literature, and to apply it IN today's 12 Step programs.
We can now name four major publications which have added this feature, and also the number of recent books and articles which we have written that set the stage for the new Christian Recovery Movement. They can and will turn A.A. and recovery eyes back on the origins of A.A. and lead to reinstatement of those principles and practices IN today's fellowships which achieved a documented 75% success rate in early Akron A.A., and 93% success rate in Cleveland A.A. founded in May, 1939.
We are eagerly awaiting any and every opportunity to "beef up" the already successful Christian recovery work with the Alcoholics Anonymous History elements. Please consider the importance and value of this ongoing Christian recovery tool.
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