A.A. Big Book and 12 Step Sources

A.A. Big Book and 12 Step Sources

Dick B.

© 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved

[Identifying the Roots and the References; my 2004 article is revised based on more recent discoveries, research, suggestions, and careful reflection on all of these]

Summary of the Identifiable Sources

My materials, which have covered in much detail the major Bible sources, will be

Referenced in this article. Those which cover the other sources will refer to my own

Writings, to other studies, and to the areas where further research and writing are

Appropriate and very much needed.

Circumstances and resources are far different in 2011 from what they were in the 1970’s and even in 1990 when I began my research, investigation, and travels. Today, the identifiable sources, in substantial totality, are the following. And most had never been researched or made the subject of explanatory exposition. Even today, many writers, archivists, and 12-Step members seem loathe to discuss or even recognize the plain and obvious items we know about for sure today:

The Major Bible Roots:

♦   The Bible (King James Version) - which early AAs called the “Good Book” at a time when the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 were deemed “absolutely essential” to the original “old school” A.A. program in Akron, Ohio.

See Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible (www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml); The James Club and the Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials (www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml)

♦   Quiet Time – the period of prayer, Bible study, seeking of guidance, reading from sources such as Anne Smith’s Journal and devotionals such as The Upper Room and The Runner’s Bible, and discussion of thoughts and ideas.

See Dick B., Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation and Early A.A.

(www.dickb.com/goodmorn.shtml)

♦   Anne Smith’s Journal – a booklet written between 1933 and 1939 in the hand of Dr.

Bob’s wife (and partially typed for her by her daughter Sue), with discussions of Bible, Oxford Group, recommended literature, and practical ideas for Christian living. Whose contents Anne Smith shared many mornings at the Smith home with AAs and their families.

See Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s Principles of Success

(www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml)

♦   The Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor – an organization that eventually grew world-wide to a membership of 4.5 million, which had a group in Dr. Bob’s church in St.

Johnsbury, Vermont, and in which both Dr. Bob and his parents were active. Its program was confession of Jesus Christ, conversion meetings, prayer meetings, Bible studies, Quiet Hour, reading of Christian literature, and topical discussions (as well as its motto of “Love and Service”—one to which Dr. Bob alluded in his talks to AAs). And that program epitomized the now well-known practices that took place in the original Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship.

See Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont (www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml) and Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library, 3^rd ed. (www.dickb.com/drbob.shtml); The 14 Specific Practices of the Akron A.A. Christian Pioneers: Pages 56-58 of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3^rd ed.,  2010 discuss in some detail the 14 actual practices employed by the Akron pioneers in their implementation of the original, seven-point, A.A. Program documented by Frank Amos

♦   Oxford Group Principles and Practices – some twenty-eight biblical ideas that impacted on

the A.A. fellowship, were codified into its Big Book and 12 Steps, and are contained

primarily in a large number of writings by various Oxford Group activists—beginning

with the book Soul Surgery published in 1919, and including the works of Rev. Shoemaker.

See Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living that Works (www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml), Turning Point: A History of the Spiritual Roots and Successes of Early A.A. (www.dickb.com/Turning.shtml)

♦   The Teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. – Rector of Calvary Episcopal

Church in New York in A.A.’s formative years, head of Calvary Mission where Bill Wilson made his decision for Jesus Christ at the altar, close friend, and teacher of Bill

Wilson, who helped Bill Wilson shape the Big Book manuscript and the language of the Twelve Steps. Shoemaker was called a “Bible Christian” and was author of over 30 titles, many sermons, and frequently published articles. His language, words, and phrases can be found in the Big Book, Steps, and fellowship jargon. He addressed two A.A. International Conventions and wrote articles for the A.A. Grapevine. Bill Wilson dubbed him a “cofounder of A.A.”

See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed., and Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You May Not Know  (www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml) and (http://dickb.com/realhistory.shtml)

♦   Religious literature widely circulated among and read by Pioneer AAs — books,

pamphlets, and articles, primarily Christian and Protestant. They were published by such popular authors as Henry Drummond, Oswald Chambers, Glenn Clark, E. Stanley Jones, Charles Sheldon, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Emmet Fox, James Allen, Harold Begbie, Samuel Shoemaker,

Victor Kitchen, Stephen Foot, and A. J. Russell. Also, daily devotionals such as The

Upper Room, My Utmost for His Highest, The Runner’s Bible, The Meaning of Prayer,

Victorious Living, Practicing the Presence of God, and the Imitation of Christ

See Dick B., The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, 7^th ed.  (http://dickb.com/bks_read.shtml) and Making Known the Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous: An Eleven-Year Research, Writing, Publishing, and Fact Dissemination Project (http://dickb.com/makingknown.shtml)

Other Significant Influences Largely Impacting on Bill’s Big Book and Twelve Steps:

♦   William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. — the psychiatrist in charge of Towns Hospital in

New York, who frequently treated Bill Wilson for alcoholism, seems to have fostered

A.A.’s “obsession and allergy” theories about the so-called “disease” of alcoholism, and

who wrote the Doctor’s Opinion contained in each edition of Bill’s Big Book. Silkworth has recently been found to be the person who advised Bill Wilson—shortly before Bill’s trip to the altar at Calvary Mission and almost immediate “White Light” Experience at Towns Hospital—that Jesus Christ, the “Great Physician” could cure Bill of his alcoholism—which cure Bill later acknowledged, particularly in his comments on page 191 of the latest Big Book edition. See Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (http://dickb.com/conversion.shtml); Dale Mitchel, Silkworth The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002);  Bill W. My First Forty Years: An Autobiography By the Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2000).

♦   Carl Gustav Jung, M.D. — the world-renowned Swiss psychiatrist who treated

Rowland Hazard, recommended affiliation with a religious group, and opined there was

no cure for Rowland’s chronic, alcoholic mind, except through a religious conversion

experience—the solution thought by Bill Wilson to have been the source of his own cure

and to be the foundation for the Twelfth Step “spiritual experience” idea in A.A. See Dick B., The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible, 133-139 (www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml). Taking, Believing, and Understanding the Twelve Steps (http://www.dickb.com/articles/AA-Twelve-Steps.shtml)

♦   William James, M.D. –- called by many the father of American psychology, long dead

before A.A. was founded, a Harvard Professor whose focus was on psychology,

experimental psychology, and philosophy, whose work impacted the writings and beliefs

of Reverend Sam Shoemaker, Jr. and whose book The Varieties of Religious Experience was,

to Bill Wilson, a validation of his “white light” experience, and also a foundation of Bill’s

First Step idea about “deflation in depth.” Bill credited the long dead James as an A.A. founder whose theories pointed to the necessity for the Twelfth Step idea of a “spiritual experience” needed to overcome the ravages of alcoholism. See William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (NY: First Vintage Press/The Library of America Edition, 1990); Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A. (www.dickb.com/newlight.sthml), The Conversion of Bill W., Real Twelve Step Fellowship History; The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings (NY: The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., 1988), 297-98.

♦   Richard Peabody – an alcoholism therapist whose title The Common Sense of

Drinking was owned by both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob and who, though he did not teach

reliance on God and died drunk, appears to have influenced Bill’s writings and language

with such ideas as “powerlessness,” “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic,” “no cure for

alcoholism,” “surrender, “half measures availed us nothing,” and a few other therapeutic

ideas. Possibly the best information on Peabody will be found in Katherine McCarthy, Early Alcoholism Treatment: The Emmanuel Movement and Richard Peabody. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Vol. 45, No.1. 1984.

Other significant religious influences on either Akron A.A. or Wilson’s Big

Book:

♦   The New Thought Movement –a unique spinoff from conventional Christian denominations that include Christian Science, Unity, Science of Mind, Divine Science, Religious Science, Psychiana, Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion, and Process New Thought. These ideas seem very probably to have contributed to unusual “spiritual” words in A.A.

language such as “Higher Power,” “Fourth Dimension,” “Universal Mind,” and other

metaphysical terms differing substantially from Biblical words studied by A.A. pioneers

in their King James Version Bibles--words such as “Creator,” “Maker,” “Father of

light,” “God of our Fathers,” “Heavenly Father,” the “Master,” and “Our Father.”

♦   New Age Ideas – though identification of “New Age” as a “Movement” is difficult and

controversial, the movement is said to focus on “One World Government” and “One

World Religion” substituting its apparent new definitions for words that have long

established biblical meaning—words “Jesus” and “Yahweh” changed to “the Christ,” “the Lord,”

and “the One;” then creating a new theology that tells us we all have Christ in us, that

there is “a new god,” and that man can be “saved” by a “message” in which he “believes”

rather than by believing on Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Just read certain Big Book language

that implies that “faith” in the “idea of God” can be found deep within us; or the

contemporary writing that fashions “spirituality” out of a “not-god” thesis, and adds that “Something” saves, but not Jesus Christ.

The Bill Wilson Legacy

Bill Wilson was the author of the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous and of the Twelve

Steps of recovery suggested therein. Questions have been raised about the authorship of

the chapters “To Wives” and “To Employers” in the Big Book; but Wilson said he had

asked Dr. Bob’s wife to write the chapter to the wives, that Anne Smith declined, that

Lois Wilson (his wife) was angry about the slight, and that he wrote the chapter. As to the

“To Employers” chapter, I leave that authorship quandary to someone else’s research and

conclusions.

Some A.A.-related shibboleths to be discarded.

♦   The first, that there were “Oxford Group Steps.” No!  Non-existent! Both Bill Wilson

and his wife Lois suggested that the Oxford Group (an A.A. source) had six steps (. But

the Oxford Group did not have “six steps.” They had no steps at all, no six steps, and no

twelve steps, whatever you may have heard. See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous (www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml) and A.A.’s own “Pass It On.”

♦   The second, that the Twelve Steps were derived from the Exercises of St. Ignatius

Exercises or John Wesley’s Principles of Holiness. No. Not involved. Father Ed

Dowling met Bill Wilson after the Twelve Steps were written. According to one writer,

Dowling “was interested in the parallels he had intuited between the Twelve Steps of

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Exercises of St. Ignatius. . . . That . . . Wilson wearily

confessed ignorance of the Exercises at once endeared the diminutive cleric to Bill”

(Kurtz, Not-God, p. 88).  Parallels. But not a product. And the same may possibly be said of

some of Wesley’s ideas on works, grace, and mercy. But I have found nothing in the

accounts of A.A. or its Biblical progenitors that suggests any significant relationship at all

between early A.A. and either Ignatius or Wesley. In fact, as we will point out, the Steps

bear an unmistakable Oxford Group imprint and more precisely the imprint and language

of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, who, Bill said, had taught Bill almost every step idea.

♦   The third, that A.A. originally had an alleged six “word –of-mouth” steps. Bill

suggested that there were six word-of-mouth “steps” being used before the Twelve Steps

were written (Pass It On, p. 197). That’s possible; but these steps, if there were any, were

certainly not well defined, were varied in language, and were not consistently described— especially in the three different ways “God” was described. Lois likened them to a supposed six

Oxford Group steps (Lois Remembers, pp. 113, 92). Today, it’s quite clear that the

Oxford Group had no such six steps (Pass It On, pp. 197, 206 n. 2). Moreover, there is no

convincing evidence to support Bill’s assertion of a supposed six steps. Sometimes, they

were referred to as the Oxford Groups six steps—which, as we have said—did not exist.

On other occasions, Bill described these “word-of-mouth” steps in varying and

inconsistent ways (See Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 160; The Language of

the Heart, p. 200; Lois Remembers, p. 113; and my review in Dick B., The Akron

Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., pp. 256-260). Moreover, Bill himself added his own

disclaimer by admitting specifically that the six were subject to considerable variation—which they were (The Akron Genesis, supra, p. 256). In fact, long after Bill’s death, his secretary and long-time aid Nell Wing personally handed me one of the versions in Bill’s own handwriting. But this version in no way resembled Bill’s other descriptions.

♦   The final myth about the “six steps” seems to stem from a personal story in the Big Book’s later edition which purportedly was the story of Earl Treat of Chicago. There is a description there of a supposed six steps used by Dr. Bob (Alcoholics Anonymous 3rd ed., p. 292; Alcoholics

Anonymous Comes of Age, pp. 22-23). However, Dr. Bob was then dead and the

procedure attributed to him uses words like “Complete deflation” and “Higher Power”

that were simply not characteristic of the descriptive words such as “God” and “Heavenly

Father;” the need for abstinence; and the references to “sins” accurately attributed to Dr.

Bob and his technique by Frank Amos (See DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 131). I

therefore strongly believe, that the descriptive words were not those of Dr. Bob and that

that portion was most probably written or edited and changed by someone other than Earl

Treat. Even a cursory glance shows that Treat himself spoke in that story of a number of other

Supposed “Oxford Group” procedures that Dr. Bob used in Bob’s session with Earl in Dr. Bob’s

office. And the first two of the supposed Bob Smith six steps employ language that I have

never found in any records of what Dr. Bob said in those days—deflation in depth and

“higher power.” These were phrases and ideas that came from Bill Wilson, and they were

used by Wilson long after the early Akron days in which Dr. Bob and Bill formulated the

seven-point program reported to John D. Rockefeller by Frank Amos and specifically set

forth in A.A.’s Conference Approved biography of Dr. Bob.

In describing his actual writing of the Twelve Steps, Bill spoke of six ideas he said were then in use, and he and Lois both indicated he expanded the six to twelve so that there would be no “wiggle room” for those taking the steps. The problem is that all of the major ideas that Bill incorporated into the twelve steps were already long stored in Bill’s reservoir from what his own sponsor Ebby Thacher had taught him in 1934—at least four years before the steps were written. (See Alcoholics Anonymous 4th ed., pp. 13-16; also my extended treatment and review of the Stepping Stones manuscripts and what Bill originally wrote about the Oxford Group teachings

from Ebby and others, as found in my title, Dick B., Turning Point: A History of the

Spiritual Roots and Successes of Early A.A. They were also in Bill’s reservoir of what the

Oxford Group had been teaching since 1919—the five C’s of “Soul Surgery;” the “Four

Absolutes” borrowed from Dr. Robert E. Speer; the moral inventory ideas that came from

the Oxford Group and Matthew 7:1-5 of the Sermon on the Mount; the confession ideas

that came from James 5:16;  the restitution ideas that came from many parts of the Bible,

particularly the Sermon on the Mount and the Book of Numbers; the Quiet Time ideas that began in the previous century with the “morning watch” and writings of F. B. Meyer, as well as the materials in the first chapter of the Book of James; the “spiritual experience;” “pass it on;” and

practice of spiritual principles that came at the very least from 1 Corinthians 13, the Ten

Commandments, and portions of the Sermon on the Mount.

Now let’s get down to cases. Let’s see what Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith, and Dr. Bob’s

wife Anne Ripley Smith had to say about the sources embodied in the Big Book and

Twelve Steps. Then we can get specific about those sources, the documentation, and the

references. And the references to those specifics are described here only in limited and in

outline form.

Some enlightening statements by A.A.’s “founders” as to sources:

♦   Bill Wilson wrote the following which I have compacted into a paragraph for the sake of brevity:

[I’ve compacted them into the following, though they were written at different points in

time:] (1) A. A. was not invented. (2) Nobody invented Alcoholics Anonymous. (3) Each

of A.A.’s principles, every one of them, has been borrowed from ancient sources. (4)

Having now accounted for AA’s Steps One and Twelve. . . . Where did the early AAs

find this material for the remaining ten Steps. . . . The spiritual substance of the remaining

ten Steps came straight from Dr. Bob’s and my own association with the Oxford Groups,

as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. (5)

The early A.A. got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects,

restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups and

directly from Sam Shoemaker, their former leader in America, and from nowhere else. (6)

[As to] the “co-founder” tag [Bill wrote Shoemaker] . . . I have no hesitancy in adding

your name to the list. (7) I’m always glad to say privately that some of the Oxford Group

presentation and emphasis on the Christian message saved my life. (8) Now that Frank

Buchman [founder of the Oxford Group] is gone and I realize more than ever what we

owe to him, I wish I had sought him out in recent years to tell him of our appreciation”

(See Dick B. Turning Point, pp. 12-13).

♦   Lois Wilson wrote the following:

[Here again compacted:] (1) Alcoholics Anonymous owes a great debt to the Oxford

Group. (2) Bob already understood the great opportunity for regeneration through

practicing the principles of the Oxford Group. He stopped drinking. (3) God, through the

Oxford Group, had accomplished in a twinkling what I had failed to do in seventeen

years. One minute I would get down on my knees and thank God. . . and the next moment

I would throw things about and cuss the Oxford Group. (4) Finally it was agreed that the

book [Big Book] should present a universal spiritual program, not a specific religious

one, since all drunks were not Christian” (Lois Remembers, pp. 92, 96, 99, 113).

♦   D r. Bob Smith said the following:

[Again compacted] (1) When we [Bob and Bill] started in on Bill D. [A.A. # 3], we had

no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions. But we were convinced that the answer to

our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts we found

absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First

Corinthians, and the Book of James. (2) It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts

and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps.

(3) If someone asked him a question about the program, his usual response was “What

does it say in the Good Book?” (4) I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do

with the writing of them. . . . We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and

tangible form. We got them. . . as a result of our study of the Good Book. (5) Members of

Alcoholics Anonymous begin the day with a prayer for strength and a short period of

Bible reading. They find the basic messages they need in the Sermon on the Mount, 1

Corinthians, and the Book of James.

The foregoing were the meat of what I had to chew on at the time of the A.A. International Convention of 2000. But we have now been able to see—from a number of pieces of evidence—that A.A. had two very distinct programs. The first was the Akron Christian Fellowship program founded by Bob and Bill in June of 1935. The second was the Big Book—Twelve Step program that Bill fashioned much later in 1939.  The founders never yielded up their views. Nor did they quarrel. It was virtually a “live and let live” situation between two very good friends—the cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Note to the reader: Though the subjects and content of the foregoing history pieces may seem burdensome and enormous, the fact is that they have been so badly distorted, ignored, omitted, and misstated that no history today can claim success unless it covers at least the points above. And that is why we have now made available at a tremendous bargain the 29 Volume Dick B. Christian Recovery Reference Set. This offer is made so that readers, students, and inquirers can have a life-long and complete resource and still be able to pick out the topics and reading materials one at a time. Please examine the bargain price set forth on our website www.dickb.com.

God Bless, Dick B. dickb@dickb.com

A.A. Women – Non-Alcoholics – Who Helped Found A.A.

A.A. Women – Non-Alcoholics – Who Helped Found A.A.

Dick B.
© 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Women Actually Helping in A.A. Founding in Akron in the 1930’s?

Early A.A. was a Christian Fellowship. Its “membership” consisted of men only. Its founding occurred in June, 1935. Its first group was founded on July 4, 1935. And, by late 1937, its Christian program of recovery was in place. Unquestionably, the co-founders were Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, and their first success was Akron attorney Bill Dotson. Dotson is known as A.A. Number Three. The ensuing Akron fellowship was a family program. Though not “members,” women taught, counseled, and attended meetings. Women hosted fellowship member visitors in their homes and answered their phone calls at times. Even the kids attended early meetings in Akron—the Smith children and the Seiberling children are good examples.

The following three are the women, highly intelligent teachers, devoted Christians, who were very much involved in prayers, teachings from the Bible, attending meetings, circulating religious literature, and observing Quiet Times.

The Three, Principal, Non-Alcoholic Women Important to Akron A.A. in the 1930’s

Anne Ripley Smith, wife of A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob Smith. Anne was a graduate of Wellesley. She had been a teacher. She served early AAs as cook, housekeeper, teacher, counselor, evangelist, and strong Bible advocate. Anne and her husband Dr. Bob were charter members of an Akron Presbyterian Church. And early A.A. was founded in their home at 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron. See Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal-1939: A.A.’s Principles of Success, 3rd ed. (www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml). I have recently posted several articles about Anne Smith’s teachings on my blog site, www.mauihistorian.blogspot.com

Henrietta Buckler Seiberling was the woman who persuaded Dr. Bob to pray with his group for Bob’s own deliverance from alcoholism. She was a graduate of Vassar and a Presbyterian. She fielded the call from stranger Bill Wilson that answered the group’s prayers. She introduced Bill Wilson to Dr. Bob Smith in her Gate Lodge home on the Seiberling Estate in Akron. And, according to one account, Henrietta “called the shots” at the regular Wednesday A.A. meetings. She taught from the Bible and devotionals. And she and her three children—John, Dorothy, and Mary—attended the early meetings. See Dick B., Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause, 4th ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006) – ISBN 1-885803-93-1
(www.dickb.com/titles.shtml).

Clarace Williams, wife of T. Henry Williams, and the initiator of Oxford Group contacts by T. Henry in Akron. The story of T. Henry and his wife Clarace has scarcely been known or accurately reported. But the details are now available in Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed., pages 65-78. www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml. Key points regarding Clarace are these: (1) She was the second wife of T. Henry, marrying T. Henry in 1921. (2) Clarace had attended a Baptist missionary school in Chicago and went on to graduate from Ottowa University, a Christian institution in Ottowa, Kansas. (3) Clarace attended an Oxford Group gathering in Akron and later persuaded T. Henry to become interested. (4) She and T. Henry designed the home on Palisades Drive in Akron where the first “regular” weekly meetings of A.A. were held. (5) Clarace decided to go to Oxford and learn more about witnessing work. (6) Later she and T. Henry dedicated their home to God. (7) Both T. Henry and Clarace were close friends of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith; got to know Bill W. and then his wife Lois; and provided a Monday set-up meeting, the regular Wednesday meeting, and a Saturday social meeting for the fledgling alcoholics in Akron. (8) Clarace and T. Henry were non-drinkers, were devoted to their church and the Bible, and regularly observed Quiet Time and other Oxford Group practices (9) T. Henry had been a deacon in a large Baptist Church in Akron and a Sunday school teacher; but later he and Clarace joined a Methodist Church nearer to their home.

Gloria Deo

The Christian Recovery Movement Today—Growing or Going?

The Christian Recovery Movement Today—Growing or Going?

By Dick B.
2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Consider the Origins

In two of our recent books, Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous and The Conversion of Bill W., we covered the seemingly-forgotten-yet-very-important origins of Alcoholics Anonymous in five groups of people and organizations, primarily of the mid-to-late 19th century.

Though critics of A.A., within and without, have often sidetracked discussions of origins by pointing to the Washingtonians and the Oxford Group, they have almost-uniformly failed to research, report, and discuss the real Christian roots of the recovery movement. And, of late, some of those critics tend to bypass A.A.’s documented Christian roots and misapply Scriptural principles and segments by claiming no Christian should be involved in today’s recovery movements.

Briefly, those Christian roots consisted of the following large Christian movements of the mid-to-late 19th century:

1. Evangelists like Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, F. B. Myer, and Billy Sunday. These brought tens of thousands of drunks and derelicts to Jesus Christ long before the Oxford Group or Alcoholics Anonymous were even thought of.

2. The Gospel and Rescue Missions, spurred by the highly-successful efforts of Jerry McAuley, H. H. Hadley, and the Water Street Mission. The testimonials still available show the huge number of alcoholics and derelicts who went to and were helped by many such missions.

3. The work of the Young Men's Christian Association (“YMCA”) lay leaders during the 1870's—especially those of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont—who cooperated with churches of various denominations and held huge conversion meetings that changed thousands of lives. And the greatest record of the beginnings is found in the “Great Awakening of 1875” in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where A.A.'s Dr. Bob was born.

4. The Salvation Army’s unique, early outreach in the slums of London and elsewhere, touching the lives of drunks and criminals; bringing them to Jesus Christ; and, upon their transformation, persuading them to help others by joining “God’s Army.”

5. The Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. At its peak, it had a worldwide membership of 4.5 million. It was founded in Maine in 1881, and it reached the Town of St. Johnsbury about 1887—with Dr. Bob and his parents involved in it at North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury. It laid out a pattern of conversion meetings, Bible studies, prayer meetings, Quiet Hours, topical discussions, and reading of literature that found place in the original Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” founded in 1935 by A.A.'s cofounders, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith.

Consider the Changes between 1939 and about 1985

Bill Wilson fashioned a new A.A.—far different from the highly-successful, original Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” program begun in 1935—at the time Big Book was published in 1939. This new A.A. was accompanied by an increasing growth of welcome to atheists and agnostics, people of non-Christian beliefs, and people of no belief at all.

The new era saw the emergence of “higher powers.” These substitutes for the power, love, and healing of Almighty God, the Creator, took on strange names and idolatrous forms. They were called “the Group,” chairs, light bulbs, door knobs, trees, Santa Claus, Ralph, Gertrude, Somebody, Something, “It,” “not-god-ness,” and just about any concept a fellowship member wanted to choose.

The higher power era was marked by a growing attempt to delete references to Christianity, religion, and church by calling A.A. “spiritual, but not religious.” And this baffling “spirituality” has given rise to equally-strange names and idolatrous practices including devil worship and spiritualist practices. Not that these have received acceptance by court decisions or most Christians in A.A. But they have frequently moved fellowship meetings, speeches, and members far far away from the original “Christian fellowship” of A.A. founded in Akron in 1935.

Consider the Interesting Christian “Awakening” That Began Thereafter

During the Big Book period just discussed, treatment centers, insurance companies, therapists, counselors, academics, historians, and writers began to treat A.A. as secular and to attempt to bar any talk of religion or God or church from “treatment.”

But whatever the merit of such attempted “cleansing,” there followed a Christian regurgitation. Perhaps it began with such organizations as Teen Challenge, Alcoholics Victorious, Alcoholics for Christ, Overcomers, Overcomers Outreach, Inc., and others. And, except for a few, these tended to try blending A.A., its Steps, and its “spirituality” with biblical verses and Christian precepts.

This changing picture was seized by Christian publishers who pumped out and sold tens of thousands of what I will call “Christian Recovery Bibles.” Well-known Christian publishing houses like Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Baker Book House, and others filled the pages of Bibles with notes, annotations, Big Book and Step references, and won a large audience of Christians.

There were other, less-widespread Christian publishing efforts in the form of Christian Twelve Step Guides which tended to link each A.A. Step with one or more Bible verses thought to be relevant to the Step or an understanding of its Christian roots or application.

In one form or another, these Christian recovery efforts survive today.

Consider the Heavy Impact of Celebrate Recovery and “Christian Treatment Programs”

Not satisfied with the “higher power” idolatry in Twelve Step fellowships, there followed a huge growth of church-sponsored and church-related imitative 12 Step recovery programs. And at the top of the list was and still is Celebrate Recovery—emanating from Saddleback Church.

With secular treatment programs and ideas changing and/or failing, many treatment program efforts were turned toward Christian Treatment Programs, Christian-Track Treatment Programs, and Christian residential treatment programs—along with others.

Also, counselors and therapists began to emphasize “Christian” alcohol, drug, and substance abuse counseling. And this too is still in the works.

Consider the Gap and the Emerging Change for the Worse

More and more Christians in A.A. and Twelve Step Fellowships were taking flight. Some went to the organizations and programs above. Many seemed to relapse. Many became part of the growing anti-A.A. community. And a few sought refuge in the anti-Christian A.A. community peopled by “Psychoheresy” and similar individuals and groups who regularly lambasted Christians who went to A.A. and issued dire Scriptural warnings about their going to “destruction”—perhaps a synonym for just plain hell

Good News!
The Pendulum is Swinging Toward Effective, Comprehensive Christian Recovery Today

We invite readers to look at the International Christian Recovery Coalition Web site, projects, literature, and “Christian Recovery Resource Centers.”

They stemmed from a large gathering of Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, as well as other concerned professionals, treatment people, and Twelve Step Fellowship members. The gathering was held in the Mariners Church Community Center in Irvine in May 2009. And its focus was on the hard times Christians in recovery and others were having because of A.A. opposition to Christianity, Christian opposition to A.A., and lack of what I call “A.A.-friendly, Bible-friendly, Christian-friendly, history-friendly” recovery efforts.

Without usurping the next article on “growing” Christian recovery efforts, suffice it to say that there is a worldwide effort today to bring before those who want God’s help the much-needed resources and programs and opportunities that the Christian community provides. And that it is not supplying as a united effort with common goals today. We have begun a major effort to fill many of the “gaps” in Christian recovery efforts by encouraging Christian individuals, groups, and organizations to become “Christian Recovery Resource Centers”—a project of the International Christian Recovery Coalition.

The need is great. It is spelled out on the Coalition's Web pages. And it includes all facets of successful and abundant Christian life after recovery. And it is based on the idea that Christian alcoholics, addicts, and affected others can be healed and transformed by the power and love of God, and given a new life in Christ.

It involves primarily efforts by Christians: initial interviews, assessments, and providing of basic information; possible intervention; possible counseling and therapy; possible referrals; genuine, comprehensive, Christian treatment that involves something more than a Bible study and a chaplain, Christian recovery after-care and alumni groups, Christian residential and outpatient treatment options; Christian sober living; Christian recovery fellowships, study groups, Bible studies, “James Clubs,” Big Book studies, Step studies, and retreats.

It involves reaching into prisons, jails, hospitals, rehabs, half-way houses, homeless situations and communities. It involves addressing veterans’ needs, military needs, family needs, health needs, economic needs, and other elements of successful Christian living.

And then entry into the community in fellowship with like-minded believers who can provide honest and wholesome access to vocational education, school education, higher learning, opportunities in trades, technicians, industrial, service, sales, teaching, military, government, and social atmospheres. Accompanied by awareness of and chances to acquire medical, nutritional, mental, fitness, recreational, sports, psychological, and religious training.

Consider That It Is Happening Now—And Growing, Not Going

In the next article, we will name the many efforts of the International Christian Recovery Coalition, and of other Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, among those we know and among those we would like to get to know and have our readers search out and learn.

Gloria Deo

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed - Comprehensive Details

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
Historical Perspectives and Effective Modern Applications
Third Edition (March 2010)

Based upon
Dick B.’s lifetime of Bible study, legal scholarship and training, 24 years of continuous sobriety, work with more than 100 sponsees, 20 years of historical research, and 39 published titles.

By Dick B. and Ken B.
© 2009, 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved

"Glorifying God by making known the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in the astonishing success rates early A.A. claimed (75% overall and 93% documented in Cleveland) among "seemingly-hopeless," "medically-incurable," "last-gasp-case" alcoholics who really tried to follow the original recovery program developed by A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob in Akron, Ohio, beginning in the summer of 1935."

"Glorifying God by helping Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena substantially enhance their effectiveness in reaching those who still suffer by including accurate information about the original Akron A.A. 'Christian fellowship' program, its principles and techniques, and its historical setting into their recovery efforts."

Prepared for
the International Christian Recovery Coalition
July 2009
(revised in August 2009 and March 2010)

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide was a major focus of:

l Our pre- and post-Conference meetings with Christian leaders and workers as individuals and small groups in Southern California during the week of July 13-19, 2009;
l Our video taping work with Bob Noonan in a professional television studio on July 16, 2009;
l “A New Way Out Leadership Conference with Dick B.!” on Saturday, July 18, 2009;
l Individual proposals, and common approaches and projects, of the International Christian Recovery Coalition; and
l International outreach efforts designed to bring a new, accurate, historical element (with modern applications) to churches, clergy, and recovery pastors; Christian recovery programs and Christian track programs; Christian support groups; Christian recovery efforts in correctional facilities, hospitals, homeless programs, and detoxes; 12 Step and recovery fellowships; VA and military facilities, and other government programs; Christian counselors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and physicians; sober clubs and sober houses; and archivists, historians, and speakers.

(The 3rd edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide was substantially revised and expanded in conjunction with the production of the “Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery” class by Dick B. and Ken B. on four DVD's in March 2010.)

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide is intended as a supplementary resource. It does not aim to change the fundamental nature of any existing Christian recovery or approach. Rather, it presents an attractive, appealing, helpful, and effective segment—primarily historical and introductory in nature—that all can use: (1) to bring to their respective audiences accurate historical information about the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in the astonishing, documented successes of early A.A.; and (2) to enhance substantially the effectiveness of their Christian recovery efforts by employing the successful, relevant techniques and lessons from the original Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” program in helping those who still suffer with alcoholism, substance abuse, and other self-destructive behavior and life-controlling problems.

Suggested Additions to Christian Recovery Programs Proposed in This Guide

First, a concise, accurate, historical element containing discussions of:

l Christian treatments that were effective in dealing with alcoholism prior to A.A.'s founding;
l The Christian training of A.A.’s founders as youngsters in Vermont;
l The Christian beginnings of A.A. in Akron and New York, including discussions of how the first three AAs got sober;
l The founding of early A.A., its actual practices, and the "original" Akron “Christian fellowship” program;
l The astonishing 75% overall success rate early A.A. claimed and Cleveland's documented 93% success rate;
l Alterations of the original Akron program that made their way into the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous ("the Big Book") published in April 1939;
l Ways to enable a newcomer to utilize the early Christian A.A. precepts in the present-day 12 Step programs; and
l Means by which Coalition leaders and workers in the recovery arena can adapt and apply this (new) information to their own approaches and still underline the importance of God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in Christian recovery efforts today.

Second, a "package" of proposed approaches tailored to the needs, ideas, and programs of Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena, as well as Christians in recovery.

Third, a discussion of present-day approaches that downplay reliance on the power and love of the one true God in favor of (over) emphasizing the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions alone, “higher power” language, pseudo “spirituality,” self-made religion, and actual unbelief; and often criticizing church, religion, reliance on God, and even the mention of Jesus Christ or the Bible by those in today's recovery fellowships.

Table of Contents

Introduction (by Dick B.)

Miraculous Healings Are Recorded in the Bible and Are Still Occurring Today

Effective Christian Work with Alcoholics Before A.A.

The Background Factors from Dr. Bob’s Youth in St. Johnsbury (1879-1898)

The Background Factors from Bill Wilson’s Youth (1895 to 1913) and Later

The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous

The New York Origins

The Crucible at the Smith Home in Akron During the Summer of 1935

The Highly-Successful, Original Akron A.A. Program, as Summarized by Frank Amos and Quoted in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers

14 Specific Practices Associated with the Original Akron A.A. “Christian Fellowship” Program Bill W. and Dr. Bob Developed

The Verification of Early A.A.'s Astonishing Success Rates

Documenting the Successes of the First 40 Pioneers

Helping the Newcomer with a Full Kit of Spiritual Tools

Some Suggested Tools with Which to Arm the Nestling about to Be Flung out of the Nest
Helping a Christian to Begin Recovery Today

"A New Way Out"

An Emerging Picture of Proposals and Potential Service from the California Meetings with Dick B. and Ken B., July 12-21, 2009

Address by Dick B. at the Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors (ACADC) Conference in Palm Springs, August 29, 2009

Conclusion

An Important, New Way to Expand Your Christian Recovery Outreach

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide also introduces the International Christian Recovery Coalition (www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com) as a means, through common effort, of expanding your Christian efforts in the recovery arena. We suggest, for example, that you and/or your organization enhance your outreach and your service by participating in such proposed Coalition projects as sponsoring:

l The completion of the "Dr. Bob Core Library" in St. Johnsbury, Vermont;
l The production of Quiet Time and study group guides;
l The work of distributing Dick B.'s books and Coalition literature free of charge internationally;
l The establishment of an International Christian Recovery Coalition resource center—perhaps even a "Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Memorial Center";
l The placement of the "Dick B. Historical Treasures" in a location open to the public which will enable interested parties to verify for themselves the substantial evidence of the roles of God, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Bible in the early A.A.'s astonishing successes; and
l The utilization of TV, radio, DVD’s, the Internet, panels, seminars, conferences, and interviews to carry the message of "A New Way Out" both nationally and internationally.

Just as we have been blessed to have the specific sponsorship of Overcomers Outreach, Inc., in the publication of A New Way Out Guidebook by Dick B. and Ken B., and the sponsorship of Celebrate a New Life at Hope by the Sea in our present Conference and promotional flyer, we sincerely believe your participation in these Coalition efforts will advance both the objectives and the worldwide service potential of the International Christian Recovery Coalition leaders, sponsors, and other participants.

The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., by Dick B. and Ken B., (150+ pages in spiral bound, 8 ½” x 11” format) is available for purchase for US$ 35.50 for shipment to the 50 states of the United States ($30.00 plus $5.50 for USPS Priority Mail shipping). The Guide is available for US$ 41.00 for shipment to Canada and Mexico, and for US$ 43.00 for shipment to countries other than the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. (Shipment to countries outside the U.S. is via USPS International Priority Mail.)

To purchase the new, third edition of The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide (2010) by Dick B. and Ken B., please Click Here to go the center column of the front page of the http://www.dickb.com/index.html#Resource3 web site.
For further information, please contact Dick B. by email at DickB@DickB.com or by telephone at 1-808-874-4876 (keeping in mind the time difference between the mainland and Hawaii).

Gloria Deo