Alcoholics Anonymous
History
with
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
This website 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 his First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 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.
latest titles, articles, videos, radio The final draft will contain full
bibliographic references and publication data, and will be updated as well]
Let’s Begin with
Alcoholics Anonymous General Services 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, 1st ed., Works Publishing Company,
1939 (non-approved).
“RHS” The A.A. Grapevine issue dedicated to the memory of
the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, DR. BOB, 1951.
Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed., 1956.
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 1957.
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical
Sketches Their Last Major Talks (Pamphlet P-53), 1972, 1975.
Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed., 1976.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980.
“Pass It On,” 1984.
The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings,
1988.
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001.
Experience, Strength And Hope: Stories From the First Three
Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2003
Next, Look at Relevant,
Reliable Alcoholics Anonymous History Books and Other Literature 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:
Alcoholics Anonymous “The Big Book” The Original 1939
Edition: Bill W. With a New, Introduction by Dick B. (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
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, 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
AA Grapevine 1971: Bill W.
Biographies of Dr.
Bob
RHS, 1951.
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous: Biographical Sketches, Their Last Major Talks, P-53.
“Doctor Bob’s Nightmare,”
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 171-181.
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,
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of
Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed., 1998.
Dr. Bob and His
Library, 3rd ed, 1998.
http://drbob.info
“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
“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.
http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory/drbob/drbob_interview_fm_0939.html
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,” 356-357.
“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
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001,
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, Reykjovik, 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
Dick B., The Oxford Group &
Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism
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, 105-50
Bill Pittman and Dick B., Courage
to Change: The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement, 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., 5, 19, 28, 142-45, 152, 159, 162, 168-70.
Dick B., The Oxford Group &
Alcoholics Anonymous, New Rev ed., 128-120
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism:
God, Sam Shoemaker, and AA, Pts ed., 333-5
Helen Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by
the Door, 177
John Potter Cuyler, Calvary Church
in Action, 57
Lois Remembers, 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 was confirmed by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.]
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Bill W. in 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. [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.” 79-80.
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 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.
A.
J. 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-mouthl 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
Trademarks and
Disclaimer: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, A.A., and Big Book are registered trademarks
of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Dick B.'s web site, Paradise
Research Publications, Inc., and Good Book Publishing Company are neither
endorsed nor approved by nor associated or affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc.
