A.A. Big Book and 12 Step Sources
Identifying the Roots and the References
Dick B.
P. O. Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837
Ph/fax: 808 874 4876
Email: dickb@...; URL: http://www.dick.com/index.shtml

© 2004. All rights reserved
Summary of the Identifiable Sources
My materials which have covered in much detail the six major Bible
sources will be referenced in this article. Those which cover the
other sources will refer to my own limited writings, to other
studies, and to the areas where further research and writing are
appropriate and very much needed.

The identifiable sources, in substantial totality, are:

The Six Major Bible Roots:
♦ The Bible (King James Version) which AAs called the "Good Book."

♦ 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 discussing of thoughts and ideas.

♦ Anne Smith's Journal – a booklet written between 1933 and 1939 in
the hand of Dr. Bob's wife, with discussions of Bible, Oxford Group,
recommended literature, and practical ideas for Christian living.
Whose contents Anne Smith shared each morning at the Smith home with
AAs and their families.

♦ Oxford Group Principles and Practices – some twenty-eight 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.

♦ The Teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. – Rector of Calvary
Episcopal Church in New York in A.A.'s formative years, a close
friend of and teacher of Bill Wilson's, and the author of over 30
titles, many sermons, and frequently published articles whose
language can be found in the Big Book, Steps, and fellowship jargon.
Called by Bill Wilson a "co-founder" of A.A.

♦ Religious literature widely circulated among and read by Pioneer
AAs — books, pamphlets, and articles, primarily Christian and
Protestant, 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
Other Significant Influences on Bill's Big Book and 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.

♦ 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.

♦ 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 Rev. Sam
Shoemaker, Jr. and whose book The Varieties of Religious Experience
was, to Bill Wilson, a validation of his "hot flash" experience and
also a foundation of Bill's First Step idea about "deflation in
depth."

♦ 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.
Other significant religious influences on either Akron A.A. or
Wilson's Big Book:
♦ The United Christian Endeavor Society –a worldwide organization,
numbering in the tens of thousands, consisting primarily of young
people supporting their particular church. Espoused most of the
principles and practices that characterized the unique Akron A.A.
Christian Fellowship program—conversion to Christ, reliance on the
Creator, Bible study, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, fellowship,
witness, love, and service. Its ideas have simply vanished from A.A.
historical discussions yet Dr. Bob's participation as a youngster
seems to have poured into many specifics of the Akron program, items
that bore little or no resemblance to Oxford Group practices.

♦ The New Thought Movement –a unique spinoff from conventional
Christian denominations that includes Christian Science, Unity,
Science of Mind, Divine Science, Religious Science, Psychiana,
Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion, and Process New
Thought— probably contributing unusual "spiritual" words to A.A.
language such as "Higher Power," "Fourth Dimension," "Universal
Mind," and other metaphysical terms differing substantially from
Biblical words used by A.A. pioneers from their King James Version
Biblies, words such as "Creator," "Maker," "Father of light," "God of
our Fathers," 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 meaning—words
changing "Jesus" and "Yahweh" to "the Christ," "the Lord," and "the
One" and then defining 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 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 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.
♦ 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.

♦ 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, not product. And the same may possibly be said of some of
Wesley's ideas on works on 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.

♦ 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 or consistently 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). And he added his own
disclaimer 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 of a
number of other "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 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 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, 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.
Some have objected to my specific footnotes and citations, but they
are the foundation of my writings. When I find something, I identify
its source if I can. Then I identify its link to A.A. if I can. And
then I specify my sources so that others can check them out and
discuss or dispute them if they wish. The end result during the past
fourteen years has been heart-warming. This despite occasional
sarcastic remarks now and then about my
supposed "preaching," "agenda," my being a "hobbyist." That keeps me
out of the hair of some revisionists and bleeding deacons. But the
perpetrators seldom if ever offer documentation of any kind whatever
that discusses, disputes, or analyzes the sources. Therefore I stick
to the evidence and let the nay sayers throw stones if they care to.
And a few do.

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:
[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).
♦ Dr. 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 s 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.



©Dick B.