Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
[This Article is an
outline of a major piece on Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity. It is posted
now because of the number of other writings on the subject of Alcoholics
Anonymous and Christianity and on the subject of Christians in Alcoholics
Anonymous. In the next day or so, citations backing up the statements and
quotes will be appended; and the article will be revised accordingly]
Early Alcoholics Anonymous called itself a “Christian
Fellowship.”
Observers frequently said that early A.A. was “First
Century Christianity” at work.
Bill W. specifically said that Dr. Bob had reminded a
group of AAs, including Bill, that most of them were practicing Christians.
A.A. Cofounder Dr. Bob had a deep and meaningful
Christian upbringing.
A.A. Cofounder Bill W. also had a deep and meaningful
Christian upbringing.
There were a number of Christian organizations and
people who were helping drunks long before A.A. was founded; and these impacted
on the lives of the Cofounders and the ideas adopted by A.A.
Bill W. said that the ideas in the First Step came
from Dr. William D. Silkworth, who was a devoted Christian, a member of Rev.
Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Church in New York, and was the one who first told Bill
that Jesus Christ, the Great Physician could cure Bill of his alcoholism.
A.A.’s connection with the Oxford Group at the
beginning was mentioned by both Bill W. and Dr. Bob. And the Oxford Group was
called “A First Century Christian Fellowship.”
Dr. Bob’s wife recommended to early AAs that they read
books on the life of Jesus Christ and that they read the Bible every single
day.
The devotionals that early AAs used in their prayer
and meditation sessions were uniformly Christian.
All AAs in the Akron Number One Group were required to
make a “regular surrender” in which they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
The books that Dr. Bob read and circulated among early
AAs were primarily Christian and numbered in the dozens.
Bill Wilson accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York and wrote in his autobiography, “For
sure, I’d been born again.”
The family of Dr. Bob—parents and grandparents—were very
active in the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury
The family of Bill W.—parents and grandparents—were very
active in the East Dorset Congregational Church in Vermont.
Both Dr. Bob and Bill W. were raised in Congregational
churches and Sunday schools in Vermont--all attended by their parents and
grandparents. They both attended Academies run by Congregationalists and which
required attendance at Daily Chapel with Sermons, Hymns, Prayers, and reading
of Scripture.
The early A.A. program in Akron, Ohio was founded
primarily on Christian principles and practices laid down by the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor, in which
Dr. Bob and his family were active in Vermont.
Bill W.’s “new version” of the program embodied in his
Big Book and 12 Steps four years later was, according to Bill, based primarily
on the teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Rector of the Calvary
Episcopal Church in New York, and whom Bill called a “cofounder of A.A.”
Dr. Bob’s wife kept a journal from 1933-1939 from
which she read each morning to AAs and their families; and in it, she spoke
frequently of the Bible, Christian literature, Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy
Spirit.
Both Bill and Bob had extensive involvement with the
Young Men’s Christian Association. Bill as President, and Dr. Bob’s father as
President.
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