Notes from the Tuesday, October 9, 2012,
Interview of Dick B.
by Anna Shouse on the “Spirit of
Recovery” Radio Show
By Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
The sources of Alcoholics
Anonymous:
The Bible--as Dr. Bob specifically said, the literature
discloses, and the quotes make apparent.
Dr. Bob’s Library and the Books Early AAs Read for
Spiritual Growth Dr. Bob, Anne Smith, Henrietta Seiberling, Clarence Snyder,
Oxford Group.
Christian people, organizations, and events preceding
A.A.:
The
“Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury;
Great Evangelists – Moody, Sankey, Meyer, H.M. Moore, Folger;
The Young Men’s Christian Association
Rescue Missions;
The Salvation Army
Christian Endeavor
The
Christian upbringing of Dr. Bob, Bill Wilson, Ebby Thacher in Vermont:
Congregational Churches;
Sunday school;
parental influence;
sermons, hymns, and Bible studies;
revivals;
prayer meetings;
daily chapel;
conversions to God through His Son Jesus Christ;
Academies like St. Johnsbury, Burr and Burton, Norwich
University;
Quiet Time;
varied Christian literature;
witnessing
The early
A.A. First Century “Christian fellowship” founded in Akron in 1935:
Daily meetings, Bible study, prayer meetings, Quiet
Time,
devotionals;
“Full surrenders” involving accepting Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior;
Hospitalization;
Spiritual growth through Christian reading, optional
Christian
fellowship and religious services weekly
The daily teachings by Dr. Bob’s wife Anne at morning Quiet
Time and from her Personal journal
Regular circulation of Christian books by Bob, Anne, and
others.
Oxford Group ideas at the weekly “regular” meeting at home
of T. Henry
Williams.
Later: What Bill Wilson extrapolated from Dr. Carl Jung,
Professor William James, Dr. William D. Silkworth, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker,
Jr., and Oxford Group life-changing ideas that became embedded in the Twelve Steps
and Big Book of 1939.
The writings of New Thought authors like James Allen,
Henry Drummond, the Fillmores, Emmet Fox, Ernest Holmes, William James, Norman
Vincent Peale, Ralph Waldo Trine; and, more remotely, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mary
Baker Eddy, Phineas Quinby, Horatio Dresser, Ellie Cady, Glenn Clark, and F. L.
Rawson
The special reading interests
of Dr. Bob and his wife: Bible, God, Jesus Christ, love, conversion, healing,
prayer, Quiet Time, the mind, Christian literature.
Dick
B., Dr. Bob and His Library, 3rd
ed.
Dick
B., The Books Early AAs Read for
Spiritual Growth, 7th ed.
Dick
B., Making Known the Biblical History and
Roots of Alcoholics
Anonymous
Dick
B., Good Morning! Quiet Time, Morning
Watch, Meditation, and Early
A.A.
Dick
B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on
the Creator’s Role in Early
A.A.
Dick
B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics
Anonymous: His Excellent
Training in
the Bible as a Youngster in Vermont
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the
Green Mountain Boys of
Vermont
A number of comments are
appropriate about the role of New Thought and Unity in A.A.’s Early Days
Dr.
Bob’s broad interest in a wide variety of Christian books, certainly
including
the Bible, and many on prayer, healing, Jesus Christ, the Bible, Quiet Time,
and New Thought.
The
interest of all early AAs in the life-changing aspects of the Oxford
Group.
Oxford Group and books by Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.
New Thought Books that were
common among the many books Dr. Bob read and recommended:
Those by Charles and Cora Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore
(Teach Us to Pray; Christian Healing);
James Allen (As
a Man Thinketh; Heavenly Life);
Henry Drummond (The
Greatest Thing in the World);
William James (The
Varieties of Religious Experience);
Ralph Waldo Trine (In
Tune with the Infinite; Man Who Knew);
Emmet Fox (The
Sermon on the Mount, Find and Use Your Inner Power, Power Through Constructive
Thinking, Alter Your Life;
Pamphlets: Getting
Results by Prayer, You Must Be Born Again, The Great Adventure, Your Heart’s
Desire
The original, seven-point,
Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” recovery program is spelled out on page 131
of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. It was very simple. It was not
Oxford Group in character. It was not the product of a particular Christian
denomination, New Thought, or the Oxford Group. As Dr. Bob put it on pages
13-14 of the A.A. General Service Conference-approved pamphlet The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks, the basic ideas of the 12
Steps came from their study of the Bible--particularly the Book of James,
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), and 1 Corinthians 13.
It more closely resembled the
Christian Endeavor meetings of Dr. Bob’s childhood. And its seven specifics
were:
1.
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.
2.
He must He must surrender himself absolutely to
God, realizing that in himself there is no hope.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. He must be
willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a
protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions.
6. It is
important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed
alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship.
7. Important, but
not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly. [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (New
York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), 131].
Our 22 years of research has
convinced us that there is a “new era” of A.A. history today and that it is
accompanied by a growing Christian Recovery Movement. It is grounded on these
historical facts:
1. The Christian sources of A.A. ideas from the 1850’s
onward.
2. The Christian upbringing of the cofounders.
3. The original Christian program in Akron which stressed
abstaining from all liquor, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
endeavoring to live love and eliminate sins, growing in understanding, and
helping others to get well.
4. Seeing how these principles fit well even in
present-day Conference-approved literature suggestions.
5. Applying old school A.A. ideas today to enhance
recovery, one’s fellowship with God, and give love and service to God and
others.
Gloria
Deo
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