Alcoholics Anonymous History
The Salvation Army Influence on, and
Relevance to, A.A.
By Dick B. and Ken B.
© 2011 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
A Word about the Salvation Army Founding
The Christian organization which came to be known as the
Salvation Army was founded in 1865 out of the pastoral work of a Methodist
Minister, William Booth. The organization was first called the Christian
Revival Association and rechristened the Salvation Army in 1878. In 1880,
General William Booth and a party of Salvationists officially began the work of
the Salvation Army in the United States.
General William Booth expressed the aim of the mission as
follows:
The object and work of this Mission
is to seek the conversion of the neglected crowds of people who are living
without God and without hope, and to gather those so converted into Christian
fellowship, in order that they may be instructed in Scriptural truth, trained
in habits of holiness and usefulness, and watched over and cared for in their
religious course. [Harold Begbie, The Life of General William Booth: The
Founder of The Salvation Army, vol. 1 (NY: Macmillan, 1920), p. 363:]
Among Booth’s Articles of Faith were these:
- We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
- We believe there is only one God who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world, that whosoever will may be saved.
- We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.
- We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
Descriptions of Salvation Army Principles and Practices
Rev. Francis W. McPeek delivered Lecture 26 of the Yale
Summer School Lectures in 1945. It was titled “The Role of Religious Bodies in
the Treatment of Inebriety in the United States.” (A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson
also gave one of the lectures at the Yale Summer School that year.) McPeek was the Executive Director of the
Department of Social Welfare of the Federation of Churches in Washington, D.C.
And Rev. McPeek said the following about the Salvation Army:
Much work was done in city missions
and particularly by the Salvation Army. The Army, however, has focused its
efforts on the conversion experience and has made use of its own general
facilities and of other community resources when these were needed in
aftercare. Those who wish to read a portrayal of the Salvation Army’s methods
and approach may consult Hall’s biography of Henry F. Milans (Out of the Depths).
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, and (5)
Unruffled patience and consistent faith in the ability of the individual and in
the power of God to accomplish the desired ends. [pp. 414-15 of the Yale
Summer School Lectures of 1945]
The Role of Professor
William James
During his fourth and final stay at Towns Hospital, December
11-18, 1934, Bill Wilson was visited by his friend and “sponsor,” Ebby Thacher.
Bill states in his autobiography that Ebby gave him a copy of a book by
Professor William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience. (Bill
was later to call James one of the “founders” of A.A.) Immediately following
his own blazing “white light” conversion experience, Bill wanted to know if it
was real or if he had been insane. Comforted by the assurances of his doctor,
psychiatrist William D. Silkworth, Bill was told he had just had a conversion
experience. Bill started reading the James book to learn about such experiences
and to confirm the validity of his own. He spent long hours in that study, as
the book was voluminous. Bill mentions Professor James’ book in Alcoholics
Anonymous (affectionately known within A.A. As the “Big Book.”). A copy was
also owned and studied by A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob. And it contains this quote
about William Booth by Professor James:
General Booth, the founder of the
Salvation Army, considers that the first vital step in saving outcasts consists
in making them feel that some decent human being cares enough for them to take
an interest in the question whether they are to rise or sink. [p. 190]
The Material about Henry F. Milans
Truly, Out of the
Depths: The Story of Henry F. Milans, by Clarence W. Hall, is a testimony
to the techniques of the Salvation Army in the Bowery—a haunt that Bill Wilson
was later to frequent. Out of the Depths
contains powerful stories of Milans, the bum in the Bowery in 1908. Milans the
newspaper man, pronounced hopelessly incurable by physicians at Bellevue
Hospital in New York. Milans, present at the “Boozer’s Convention” concurrent
with the dismissal of Milans from Bellevue Hospital. The biography states:
Briefly stated, a Boozer’s
Convention consisted of a whole regiment of Salvationists going out at one time
into the highways and byways of New York City and literally compelling all of
the bums, drunkards, ne’er-do-wells and broken pieces of nondescript humanity
who could be found to submit to being directed, led or carried to The Salvation
Army Memorial Hall on West Fourteenth Street for the purpose of being invited,
coaxed or jarred out of their hopelessness and worthlessness into conversion
and good citizenship. Though at first only an experiment, the Boozers’
Convention proved such a tremendous success that it was repeated for several
succeeding years.
[At
the Hall] it was announced that food would be served in the lower hall. In
sections the bums filed downstairs, Milans with them. . . . The meeting
proceeded, and when the invitation to test the power of God on broken lives was
given, Milans saw about three hundred respond. . . . For a week of nights
Milans attended the Army’s meetings. . . . Then on a Thursday night, just one
week after the Boozer’s Meeting where he had first been touched, and convicted
by the Holy Spirit, Milans surrendered. Amid the fervent “Hallelujahs” of every
Christian in the hall, he stumbled forward to the penitent-form, and there
poured out his soul to God in an agony of desire—not for whiskey this time, but
for deliverance from its power. No more earnest behest ever ascended to the
Throne of God from the breast of a kneeling penitent than that prayer by Milans
for release from his habit. He had shaken off the hold-back straps of unbelief.
He had made the plunge. . . . [H]e continued to pray; the Salvationists sang
softly an encouraging refrain or two; others prayed. . . . ‘Twas the Master,
and down into the depths of hell there groped a Hand—a nail-pierced Hand—which
found the man it sought and lifted him out. The miracle was performed. He arose
from his knees. . . . [H]e was going out to face a world of temptation and
opposition. . . . There, in the solitudes of the great city, on a park bench,
the Presence seemed to whisper to him lovingly, “Fear not, I will help thee: I will sustain thee, for I have redeemed
thee. Thou art mine!” And strength came to him. . . . His inner man made no response to the thought of drink. It
dawned upon him them that he was free!
. . . . Listen to his testimony, given nineteen years later: “From that moment to the present I have never
been tempted to take a drink of anything with alcohol in it.” The appetite
was gone! [p. 128]
The Harold Begbie
Books
Perhaps the Salvation Army link with greatest impact on
Alcoholics Anonymous was Harold Begbie's book, Twice-Born Men: A Clinic in Regeneration: A Footnote in Narrative to
Professor William James's “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” The book
was very much intertwined with the thinking of William James and quoted his
ideas quite often. It was immensely popular in the Oxford Group—Shoemaker circles.
(See Mel B., New Wine: The Spiritual
Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle, 130-34.) It was recommended by Dr. Bob’s
wife in the journal she shared with early AAs and their families. (See Dick B.,
Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s
Principles of Success, 3rd ed., 83.) It was owned and circulated
by Dr. Bob. (See Dick B., Dr. Bob and His
Library: A Major A.A. Spiritual Source, 3rd ed., 48.) And it
certainly was among the books early AAs read. (See Dick B., The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual
Growth, 7th ed., 31, 37, 58, 62.)
Begbie’s Twice-Born
Men was devoted almost exclusively to Salvation Army accounts. He
underlines conversions, frequent “Sinner’s Prayers,” outreach to drunks and
derelicts and outcasts, amends, the “attraction” of others by successfully
reformed fighters, criminals, drunks, prisoners, and others who rose from the
slums of London
The word “Army” appears frequently in Begbie’s books,
particularly Twice-Born Men. One
example described “The Puncher”—a reformed prize---fighter’s work in these
phrases: He had said, “I’m going to join the Army.” “The wonder of the Puncher
is what Salvationists call his “love for souls”. . . which means “the intense
and concentrated passion for the unhappiness which visits a man who has
discovered the only means of obtaining happiness. The Puncher was not content
with the joy of having his own soul saved; he wanted to save others.” “The
Puncher has spent hours and pounds trying to reach his old companions.” “He receives no pay from the Army. He is not
an officer, he is a soldier—a volunteer,” pp. 55-61.
Harold Begbie was also the author of the two-volume
biography of General William Booth. The
Life of General William Booth: The Founder of
The Salvation Army.
The Research of, and
appraisal by, Dr. Howard Clinebell
There is an important study of the effectiveness of the
Salvation Army in the field of overcoming alcoholism and addictions. The
Reverend Howard J. Clinebell, Ph.D. (now deceased), was a highly-regarded
Professor Emeritus at the School of Theology in Claremont, California. [See
Howard Clinebell, Understanding and
Counseling Persons with Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions, Revised
and Enlarged Edition (Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1998).] Dr. Clinebell asked me
(Dick B.) to review his preparation of the Alcoholics Anonymous portion and
then to endorse the book itself. Clinebell had this to say about the Salvation
Army:
In my judgment, the Salvation Army,
together with some more enlightened rescue missions, represent evangelistic
addiction therapy at its best. . . . There is convincing evidence that some
facilities have remarkable success in getting and keeping countless formerly
homeless, low-bottom addicts sober and living constructive lives. [p. 189].
Clinebell points out that in the early 1940’s, the Salvation
Army put its recovery principles into the following series of nine
Christian-oriented steps paralleling some of the important Twelve Steps of
A.A.-modeled recovery programs (See pp. 188-89):
ñ
The alcoholic must realize that he is unable to
control his addiction and that his life is completely disorganized.
ñ
He must acknowledge that only God, his Creator,
can re-create him as a decent man.
ñ
He must let God through Jesus Christ rule his
life and resolve to live according to His will.
ñ
He must realize that alcohol addiction is only a
symptom of basic defects in his thinking and living, and that the proper use of
every talent he possesses is impaired by his enslavement.
ñ
He should make public confession to God and man
of past wrong-doing and be willing to ask God for guidance in the future.
ñ
He should make restitution to all whom he has
willfully and knowingly wronged.
ñ
He should realize that he is human and subject
to error, and that no advance is made by covering up a mistake; he should admit
failure and profit by experience.
ñ
Since, through prayer and forgiveness, he has
found God, he must continue prayerful contact with God and seek constantly to
know His will.
ñ
Because The Salvation Army believes that the
personal touch and example are the most vital forces in applying the principles
of Christianity, he should be made to work continuously not only for his own
salvation but to effect the salvation of others like himself.
The Conversion Element in Early A.A. Cures
In Dick B., Real Twelve Step
Fellowship History (http://dickb.com/realhistory.shtml),
I have summarized the early Akron A.A. requirement of a “real surrender.” One
that confirmed acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as an essential
part of the Akron recovery program:
In order to
belong to the Akron fellowship, newcomers had to make a “real surrender.” This
was akin to the altar call at rescue missions [and at the Salvation Army
Halls], or the confession of Christ with other believers in churches [and
revival gatherings]. But it was a very small, private ceremony which took place
upstairs in the home of T. Henry and Clarace Williams, and away from the
regular meeting. Four A.A. old-timers (Ed Andy from Lorain, Ohio; J.D. Holmes
from Indiana; Clarence Snyder from Cleveland; and Larry Bauer from Akron) have
all independently verified orally and/or in writing that the Akron surrenders
required acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those conversions took
place at the regular, weekly, Wednesday meeting in a manner similar to that
described in James 5:15-16. Kneeling, with “elders” at his side, the newcomer
accepted Christ and, with the prayer partners, asked God to take alcohol out of
his life and to help, guide, and strengthen him to live by cardinal Christian
teachings such as those in the Oxford Group’s Four Absolutes—Honesty, Purity,
Unselfishness, and Love.
The Sanctification Element for Which the Salvation Army Drew Praise
There is no need here to discuss the difference between
conversion and sanctification. But see Stanford Professor Edwin Diller
Starbuck’s The Psychology of Religion: An
Empirical Study of the Growth of Religious Consciousness (London: The
Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd., n.d.), William James wrote the Preface. And
Starbuck shows why the Salvation Army’s continuity of the new life program drew
praise. Starbuck was much quoted in the William James book that Bill Wilson
avidly read immediately following his conversion experience at Towns Hospital.
Starbuck wrote about “The Line of Growth Following
Conversion.” This “sanctification” element is something that both the Salvation
Army program and the Alcoholics Anonymous “Continuance” or “maintenance” Steps
stressed. Neither organization considered the life change complete simply
because there had been a “surrender” or a “conversion” or a “life change.” Thus
a conversion might be said to have existed at the conclusion of A.A.’s Step
Three decision or its Step Seven
“removal of shortcomings.” Look at First Century Christianity in the Book of
Acts. Look at the Oxford Group life-changing program. Look at Rev. Shoemaker’s
definition of a spiritual awakening. Shoemaker said a spiritual awakening had
four elements--prayer, conversion, fellowship and witness. In Acts, the
Salvation Army, the Oxford Group, and Shoemaker’s spiritual awakening, there
remained the daily need for continued
fellowship, continued prayer, continued Scripture work, continued removal of
evil conduct, continued contact with God, and continued witnessing to others.
Of these, Professor Starbuck
said:
. . . in regard to the
post-conversion period [.;] The nerve tracts involved in the old life are
perhaps structurally as much a part
of the person’s make-up just after conversion as are his arms or legs. . . the
old neural channels are there to assume their former functions the moment the
new are off guard. The old may cease, but only by becoming hopelessly enslaved
and subordinated to the new, or by withering up and dying for want of exercise.
(p.362.)
The futility of
expecting a new insight to become permanent, however genuine it may be, without
following it up with conduct that works the new life over into neural habit is
apparent on the face of it. The new must be drilled in as indelibly as was the
old. The Salvation Army has caught the secret of it. They set the convert by
every means available to the task of cultivating nervous discharges in the
brain areas connected with the spiritual life. He is to make the higher life
habitual (pp. 362-63).
Compare 2
Corinthians 5:17—the new man in Christ; and James 2:20—faith without works is
dead. Then James 1:12, 22—Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. . . be
ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
A Synopsis of Salvation Army Contributions
As with many of the other successful Christian recovery
approaches, the Salvation Army practices can be summarized as follows:
·
As to alcoholism and addiction: Recognize,
Concede, Decide
·
Establish a relationship with God through Jesus
Christ and then rely on the power of
God
·
Obey God’s will--walk in love and eliminate
sinful conduct
·
Grow in one's relationship with God through the
Bible study and prayer
·
Once reformed, help others still afflicted
·
Fellowship with like-minded believers
·
Witness as to the effectiveness of salvation and
the new life in Christ
Elements of Applying the Salvation Army Origins in Recovery Today
·
For Christians in the recovery movement today,
stress the importance of God, a relationship
with Him through His Son Jesus Christ, the Bible as an absolutely essential guide, and working with
others as a mission.
·
Point out the five elements described in Rev.
McPeek’s Yale lecture
·
Share the recovery principles set forth by Dr.
Clinebell
·
Make known the advice physician William D.
Silkworth gave to his patient Bill Wilson
that Jesus Christ, the “Great Physician” could cure Bill’s alcoholism, that a relationship with Jesus Christ was
necessary, and that a “conversion experience” could
bring about the healing.
·
Highlight the seven-point summary of the early
A.A. program set forth by Frank Amos
and published in A.A.’s own DR. BOB and
the Good Oldtimers on page 131.
Gloria
Deo
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