The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook
Dick B.
Copyright 2006 by Anonymous
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ISBN 978-1-937520-06-9
Published by First Edition Design eBook Publishing July 2011
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
Smashwords Edition
dickb@dickb.com
Printed in the United States of America
Cover Design: Terry Dunford (American Creations of Maui)
This Paradise Research Publications Edition is published by arrangement with Good Book Publishing Company, PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837
The publication of this volume does not imply affiliation nor approval nor endorsement from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 1-885803-91-5 (print)
Contents
-Chapter 1. History: The Inclusion in Recovery of A.A.’s Biblical Origins and Christian Fellowship
Some Questions for You
Suggestions for Your Approach
“The Twenty Questions
-Chapter 2. The Healing Evidence at the Time When A.A. Was Born
Miracles Never Ceased
Recognition of the Efficacy of Healings
-Chapter 3. Alcoholics Anonymous, the Founders, Belief in Almighty God and Divine Healing
Without Any Apparent Exception, A.A.’s Founders Believed the Creator Cured Them
The Dramatic Denial in Later A.A.
Let’s Look at the Bible Early AAs Were Studying for Basic Ideas about Healing and Cure
Let’s Look at the Believers Who Healed Throughout History
-Chapter 4. The Spiritual Beginnings of A.A
A.A.: Unique, But Borrowed
Two Distinctly Different Spiritual Origins
The New York Genesis and its Dr. Carl Jung/Rev. Sam Shoemaker Source
The Akron Genesis and its Bible/Dr. Bob Source
The Christian Endeavor Society Impact
Melding the Roots was solely a Bill Wilson Project
-Chapter 5. The Real Program of Early A.A.
An Overview of What They Did in Akron
The Frank Amos Reports in 1938
The Major Biblical Roots of the Original Program
-Chapter 6. The Materials from the Bible That Dr. Bob Considered Absolutely Essential
Introductory Comments
The Bible Was King in the Early Program. You met and used it at every turn.
The Picture of the Bible’s Use
Many of the Bible’s Books, Parts, and Verses Need Specific Mention Here.
Verses That Received Special Attention and Use
The Special Role of the Books of Matthew, James, and 1 Corinthians
The Book of James
1 Corinthians 13
-Chapter 7. The Approach Early Akron A.A.’s Took While They Sought Christian Healing
Identifying Their Alcoholism
Popularity of the Disease Concept
The Sin Concept
Overcoming
The Pioneer Approach
-Chapter 8. The Practical Use and Application of This Guide
Where to Begin
The Objective
Your Particular Program
Go and Tell
-Chapter 9. Selected Bibliography
-Chapter 10. Appendix One
Catch the Wave
The First Step: What Does our Heavenly Father say?
The Second Step: To Be a Doer of the Word
The Third Step: Praise, Be Thankful, and Enjoy
Keep Your Love Light Shining
Put Your Heavenly Father First
Take Care of Yourself
Eliminate the Stress
See the Doctor Regularly
-Chapter 11. Appendix Two
A.A. History Study Meetings
Studying the History, Bible Roots, Big Book, and Twelve Steps
Parts of the Good Book A.A. Old-Timers Considered “Absolutely Essential”
Why this Guide is Needed
Begin with the Bible Itself
James
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
The Thirteenth Chapter of 1 Corinthians
Suggested Reading to Enrich Your Meetings and Individual Studies
Chapter 1 - History: The Inclusion in Recovery of A.A.’s Biblical Origins and Christian Fellowship
There are many recovery programs today. Some achieve fine results. But any and all could profit by adding a chapter, a segment, a chunk of history to their approaches—the history of the early A.A. Christian Fellowship program in Akron, its Bible roots, and its astonishing success..
Why? Because so much of the early A.A. 75% to 93% success rate among real medically incurable alcoholics hinged on the truths the pioneers studied and applied from the Holy Bible. The Bible they called the Good Book. In those great days, they didn’t omit the Creator, His son Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, or the Bible. They counted on them.
And this is a Guidebook that suggests how you can incorporate that history in just about any recovery approach you use—in A.A. itself, other 12 Step fellowships, A.A. Big Book/Bible Study Groups, Christian Recovery Groups, Christ-centered recovery groups, Conventional treatment models, Christian Track Treatment Programs, Therapeutic Community and Rehab programs, para-church recovery groups, and a church’s recovery outreach.
Take your pick. All could use some substantial beefing up when it comes to learning, absorbing, teaching, and applying the early A.A. Christian fellowship ideas. They were the basis for A.A.’s remarkable successes in the 1930’s!
Some Questions for You
Questions: Let’s start with some questions—for AAs and 12 Step members who are Christians; for Christian recovery groups within and outside A.A.; for Christian treatment programs; for treatment center leaders who are more and more including Christian Track in their offerings; for those who simply want to know more about A.A. and the Bible, or more about the basic ideas A.A. pioneers took from their study of the Bible, or more about A.A. and 12 Step links to Christianity. Also for those who are wondering if the history of early A.A. belongs as a part of their agenda:
Did you know that early A.A. in Akron was a Christian Fellowship?
Did you know that its basic ideas came from AAs’ study of the Bible?
Did you know that their original Akron meetings were called “old fashioned prayer meetings?”
Did you know that many of Akron’s pioneer principles and practices derived from the United Christian Endeavor Society—a huge international young people’s movement?
Did you know that the Book of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 were considered “absolutely essential” to their program?
Did you know that the pioneers achieved a documented 75% to 93% success rate as the result of what they did in their program—and that these successes were widely and properly called “cures.”
Do you agree that a knowledge of these facts would strengthen and buttress any Christian Track, Christian Recovery, Christian 12-Step, or Christ-centered Recovery Program?
If you wanted to overcome alcoholism or teach about and treat how to cure of alcoholism, wouldn’t you want to know as much as possible about exactly how the early AAs did that?
Do you realize that most people who are sent to 12 Step programs by the courts or by treatment centers or by therapists just aren’t sent there with any thoughts or expectations as to God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, Christian healing, or Christian A.A. history?
The challenge for you today—Where to find the facts, and how to present them: People who are entrusted with recovery work, whether as A.A. sponsors or in some other capacity, usually haven’t a clue about the foregoing matters. But where would you go for the facts? What are the reliable sources? Who shall, and how shall you, present the materials? In what way can a segment be incorporated in existing programs? Certainly not without your knowing the history.
For decades, historians, professionals, and AAs themselves have drifted away from the early history and drifted toward idolatrous “deities” like a higher power, a lightbulb, a radiator, “Something,,” and often an undefined “spirituality” that requires no belief at all. This drift certainly opened wide the doors to secularization of groups, to hordes of non-religious treatment centers hungry for clients, for enormous “spiritual but no religious” book sales, and for substitute “model” programs.
In addition, however, it often left most newcomers with the belief that early A.A. really didn’t work that well, that most of the pioneers got drunk, that the present-day relapses are OK, to be expected, understandable, “treatable,” and will be overcome with “spirituality” (but never religion). Mostly, the new “spirituality” is more about “no god” or “not-god” than it is about establishing a relationship with the one, true, living God. There is simply little talk in A.A. today, or in writings about 12 Step programs, that tells people how much early AAs originally learned and believed about the Creator’s healing power and impact on Alcoholics Anonymous or about the Bible’s role and importance.
History—accurate, concisely presented, illuminating history—can help. It can provide a new foundation for successful teaching. Of course, it’s not the history itself that is vital. It’s the power of the Creator. And it’s about learning His key role in 1935—the year A.A. was founded.
Suggestions for Your Approach
Devoting a segment to what A.A. pioneers really did. We’ll not presume to say that all approaches to filling the history gap are or should be identical. We do believe and urge that a portion of any recovery approach should be devoted to history. Incidentally, many of the early A.A. ideas that were taken from the Bible rest, in turn, on the many writings of the Rev. Samuel Moor Shoemaker, Jr., a “Bible Christian” and Rector of Calvary Church in New York, whose books were widely read by Akron AAs (See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2nd ed., Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999)
To be sure, A.A. and other 12-Step programs already have their materials in place. Treatment programs and therapists are already steeped in method. Christian programs, whether totally Christian or a Christian-track presentation, may already cover Christian ideas and Bible verses. But all need an historical supplement to their approach to people in need—a segment that gives the facts about the Christian program of the 1930’s that was already in place and very successful.
Most existing programs already have a curriculum. Thus Alcoholics Victorious and Overcomers Outreach, Inc. already have a full plate. Even so, both regularly order and presumably offer Dick B. titles already. But we suggest the following resources they could possibly use to add a historical segment or series to their curricula. So too many of the Christian Track treatment programs. So too most Twelve Step programs, including A.A.
For, in most all of these cases, there is gross inadequacy when it comes to practical history resources now in use. The suggestions here can certainly also apply to newcomers, sponsors, meetings, groups, Big Book/Bible study groups, Step-study groups, seminars, panels, conferences, and resource agencies.
Whatever their program or agenda, all could stand a solid, beefed up information approach and resource. An approach and additional resource that need not dilute programs in place. But an approach that tells it like it was, instead of like it is.
Furthermore, if anyone wants to apply these suggestions as well to an “Old School A.A.” approach in the context of his own program and approach, this Guidebook and its suggestions will fit the bill. Details on resources to acquire and use are included in the concluding chapter of the Guide.
The following—detailed by other, later materials in this guidebook -- outline historical items that ought to be added or may be added to the thousands of existing programs and groups today. Every one of the items is historical in character. Every one was involved in the early A.A. program in one way or another. And every one could bless the newcomer today and enrich any program in which he is enrolled.
The reader can determine which, or which part, or whether all, will fit in the appropriate slot of his program. If nothing more, the material can be used to bring history out of the darkness by describing the approaches of the early Christian Fellowship of alcoholics in Akron.
Elements that can profitably be included, in whole or in part:
1. Adopting an historical framework as to outreach:
Contact with the newcomer: At meetings, by referral, by interview, by admission, by intervention, by phone and email inquiries, by intervention, and by “Twelfth Steppers.” The pioneers reached the new people in many of these ways; and 12 Step workers still do.
Arranging medical help: The first stop is the hospital, the detox unit, or at least a doctor. That was a “must” in early A.A.; and it should be a “must” today. I’ve been to too many meetings, including one of my own first meetings, where a newcomer is red-faced, sweating, shaking, and confused—on the brink, in some cases like my own, of having seizures. I was ignored, until I actually had the grand- mal seizures and almost bit off my tongue whereas I had previously been told to take “orange juice and honey.” But fooling with a newcomer like that without dealing with medical problems, acute withdrawal, “D,T,’s,” and seizures and without regard for his initial medical problems is just plain dangerous. He may have alcohol-related illness, injuries, and potential acute withdrawal potential. Early AAs took no chances. They hospitalized the newcomer in almost every case. And, as a sidelight, it gave them a real opportunity to tell him their stories, introduce him to surrender, and have him accept Christ.
Paralleling the first live-in, free “halfway houses.” As often as not, a newcomer was brought to the home of Anne and Dr. Bob, or Wally G. and his wife, Tom Lucas and his wife, and Clarence Snyder and his wife. At personal expense, these wonderful old-timers provided free housing, free meals, and a free long-term opportunity for “resident” counseling and indoctrination. Temptation was substantially eliminated. The results showed!
Utilizing a weekly Biblically oriented meeting coupled with more frequent in-house fellowship meetings. The pioneers had no Big Book. They had no Steps. They had no drunk-a-logs. When they met, they heard the Bible read; they prayed; they sought guidance; and they received Christian devotionals and literature to read. Meetings were not required, but they did provide a source of protection, indoctrination, and unity. Dr. Bob called every meeting a Christian Fellowship.
2. Defining alcoholism for the newcomer:
(a) A Disease? Not a great deal was known about alcoholism or the technique for cure thereof in 1935. In fact the malady was considered “medically” incurable. Obeisance was paid to the “disease” idea of an allergy, an obsession, and a progressive illness. But that approach left programs with such words as “powerless,” “incurable,” and “only a daily reprieve. And that information was passed along to us today..
There are wide variety of views as to what constitutes alcoholism. See Dick B., God and Alcoholism. The so-called father of the “disease concept” was E.W. Jellinek, and his foundational book was The Disease Concept of Alcoholism. New Brunswick, NJ: Hillhouse Press, 1960. Yet it was Jellinek himself who cautioned:
“. . . one must conclude that there are more definitions of definition than there are ‘definitions’ of alcoholism” (p. 33).
(b) Reviewing actual experiences themselves: I have used the various tests below and they are very helpful. Yet I have concluded that, for the purpose of working with a newcomer as I do, it’s better to talk about what I know. And what I know is that my alcoholism (and that of most in the A.A. fellowship) can be described with three “D’s” and an “R.”—Drink, Drunk, Disaster, and Return. That pretty much sums up our plight: We Drink too much. We get Drunk too often; and we probably look forward to getting drunk again. We encounter Disaster time after time—whether accidents, fights, legal problems, financial problems, family problems, jail, arrests, hangovers, ill-health, the shakes, the blackouts, and all the rest. And yet we Return, again and again, to repeat the cycle.
It takes no time at all for one alcoholic to compare notes with another and at least define alcoholic experiences galore. We speak a basic language whether our experience involved booze, bongs, or ice.
(c) Sin? There’s also the problem of “sin.” It’s discussed about as well and thoroughly by a distinguished theology professor and prolific writer who is frequently quoted and only recently passed away. He is The Reverend Howard Clinebell, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Theology, Claremont, California. Clinebell spent many decades researching alcoholism, A.A., A.A. history, and pastoral counseling of alcoholics and addicts. One of his last works was Understanding and Counseling Persons with Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Additions. Nashville: Abingdon, 1998.
At pages 287-299, Clinebell discusses a wide variety of views on whether or not alcoholism is sin or is a sin. His views should be examined in company with those of the lay Baptist preacher and recovered alcoholic Jerry G. Dunn who wrote the widely sold. God is for the Alcoholic. Chicago, Moody Press, 1965. It would be useful also to familiarize yourself with the unceasing battering s on this topic by the Psychoheresy group, headed by the two Bobgans.
Altogether these views make it quite clear that there are diversities of views of sin, sinful conduct, and sins. All of which cause Christians to differ, writers and religious to spurn the “disease” concept and 12 Step programs, and certain denominations to reject any but religious approaches designed to deal with the sin problem.
I won’t join the fray, but I will cite some Bible materials that are, and ought to be taken into consideration if you are dealing with Christians who love the Word of God.
Ephesians 5:18:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16, 19-21:
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. . . . Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, l asciviousness, Idolatry, withcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like. . .
Romans 13:12-14:
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the amour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the days, not in rioting and drunkenness, and in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Romans 14:21:
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22:
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1 Timothy 3:1-2, 8:
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. . . . Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre.
Then there is the classic recital in Proverbs 23:29-35 which begins:
“Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.”
The chapter concludes with this:
“They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
Drink. Drunk. Disaster. Return. To be sure, there are Bible students and scholars who argue “wine” doesn’t mean “real wine.” There are also those claim the Bible does not forbid drinking (which it doesn’t), and those who disagree. There are those who believe that all the foregoing verses add up to God’s command that we are not to be drunken or drink to excess. If so, excessive drinking and drunkenness are surely sins, from the Biblical standpoint.
Suppose they are. Is there any reason at all that this point should not be covered today? It certainly was in early A.A.—even in some of the earlier language of the Twelve Steps and in the descriptions of the Akron program. Who should be afraid to say “sin”—especially when speaking in an historical or Biblical context?
3. Gaining the alcoholic’s admission of his alcoholism: In early A.A., the alcoholic was to identify and admit his problem. As to how he did this before the Big Book was published, I can only speculate. But it seems likely that the following tests may have been submitted to him or their contents may have been related to him, whether in articulated form or by conversation. I have found them useful in helping newcomers “to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 30)concede to his innermost self that he is alcoholic They suggest to the inquiring alcoholic:
A “real alcoholic” is: Someone who has lost the ability to control his drinking (See Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 30).
Two basic tests: If, when you start drinking, you lose control over the amount you take; or if, when you honestly want to quit, you can’t quit entirely, you are “probably” an alcoholic (See Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 44).
The old “Twenty Questions” tendered in various forms:
(These have been phrased in different manners, and sometimes the questions were different. But one typical test would say: If you answered “yes” to one, you probably are an alcoholic; and if you answered “yes” to three, you are definitely an alcoholic. See:
“The Twenty Questions
Does drinking cause you problems?
These questions relate to common problems with using alcohol. Only you can decide if you have a "drinking problem" and whether you want to do something about it.
1. Do you lose time from work due to your drinking?
2. Is drinking making your home life unhappy?
3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?
4. Is drinking affecting your reputation?
5. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?
6. Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of your drinking?
7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking?
8. Does your drinking make you careless of your family's welfare?
9. Has your ambition decreased since drinking?
10. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily?
11. Do you want a drink the next morning?
12. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
13. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?
14. Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?
15. Do you drink to escape from worries or troubles?
16. Do you drink alone?
17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of your drinking?
18. Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?
19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?
20. Have you ever been in a hospital or institution on account of drinking?
(The above questions are used by many chemical dependency counselors, says the writer of them, in helping clients determine whether they have a problem with alcohol. In the pastoral counseling book mentioned above, The Rev. Dr. Howard Clinebell examined and reviewed several variations of the foregoing questions; so the particular question formats are not embedded in stone)
The Health and Human Services Guide: Then there’s the recently published Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinicians Guide, 2005 Edition. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has all kinds of tests to aid physicians in diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment. And they are worth looking at. But the pamphlet is sadly lacking in applause for A.A. or in mention of cure by religious means.
4. Requiring an admission of defeat: Here were some comments that were common in the early days: “I am licked” (See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed., pp. 256-257). “I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master” (Alcoholics Anonymous , 4th ed., p. 8). There was often too a cry for help: “O God, manage me, because I can’t manage myself” (See Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed, pp. 20-22).
5. Step Zero—Is the newcomer willing to go to any lengths to get well—to quit drinking entirely: See Our Legacy to the Faith Community: A Twelve-Step Guide for Those Who Want to Believe, written by three of Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and Their Wives (Winter Park FL: Came to Believe Publications, 2005, Compiled and Edited by Dick B., pp. 13-14). See also Dick B., That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 65-66; and Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 58).
6. Establishing and requiring the newcomer’s belief in Yahweh, the Creator, our Almighty God. Early AAs were not allowed to pussyfoot. They were asked fearlessly to “face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed, p. 53). There is almost an exact parallel between this Big Book phrase and the one used in books by Rev. Sam Shoemaker (See Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Confident Faith, p. 187) AAs were to follow and believe Hebrews 11:6:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
There was an insistence that they believe that God is (See DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p.144. See Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Religion That Works, p. 88; The Gospel According to You, p. 47; National Awakening, p. 40—all referring to Hebrews 11:6 (Wilson wrote in Alcoholics Anonymous , 4th ed., at p. 57: “Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. . . He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him, He disclosed Himself to us!” and at page 62: “We had to have God’s help”).
7. Belief followed by requisite surrenders: No one was admitted to A.A. without undergoing a “real surrender.” Sometimes part of it occurred at the time of his discharge from the hospital (See Dick B., That Amazing Grace, p. 26; DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 144). But the “real surrender” occurred when he was taken upstairs at the Wednesday night meeting, got down on his knees, and had the “elders” pray over him after the manner of James 5:16. (Dick B., That Amazing Grace, supra, pp. 27-28; When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, pp. 100-101). The procedure usually involved these declarations and prayers:
I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour
I ask God in the name of Jesus Christ to take alcohol out of my life.
And I ask for the strength and guidance to live by the cardinal principles taught by Jesus Christ, particularly those in the Four Absolutes—honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.
The general form, content, and existence of these surrenders is well documented history. Regrettably indeed, it is just seldom discussed. See Dick B., The James Club, supra, pp. 155-157, 166; The Golden Text of A.A., p. 32; When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, pp. 100-
101; That Amazing Grace, pp. 27, 72-73; Mitch K., How It Worked, pp. 58, 70; Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., The Experiment of Faith, pp. 27-29).
8. The necessity for learning about and standing with the full armour of God:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:10-13).
Most of the remaining verses in Ephesians 6 describe in battle figures of speech: standing on truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and praying.)
The pioneers heard additional calls to stand and resist:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. . . . Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:7, 10)
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. . . . Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:12, 16)
9. Obeying God’s commandments—seeking and doing:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10)
Love God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40)
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8)
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9),
9. Growing in the relationship with the Father and His Son
Walk in fellowship: “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:4-7)
Study the Bible: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Prayer and thanksgiving: “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)
Ask God for wisdom: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5)
Forgiving: “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you; so also do ye” (Colossians 3:13)
Using “helpful books” such as The Upper Room, The Runner’s Bible, The Greatest Thing in the World, The Meaning of Prayer; Glenn Clark books, E. Stanley Jones books, Emmet Fox books. Books on love, prayer, healing, the life of Jesus Christ, and—of course—the Bible.
10. Witnessing:
Working with other alcoholics: “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 89. Dick B.: Yet how often we see members fervently attending meetings,
“serving,” speaking, enjoying conferences—and yet never working directly with and helping the newcomer. In my own case, after more than nineteen years of sobriety, I still remember and try to practice which Bill W. and Dr. Bob preached on this newcomer matter)
You have to give it away to keep it. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. . .” (Mark 16:15-17; and see Dick B., Anne Smiths Journal, supra, pp. 65, 69, 73, 87, 88, 124, 140; Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., They’re on the Way, p. 159; One Boy’s Influence, p. 15)
Go and tell what God has done: “Jesus answered and said unto them. Go and shew John again those things which you do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:4-5; Dick B.: Get the message straight. The first message Bill W. ever heard was from his friend Ebby who said: “I’ve got religion. . . .[and then Ebby] made the point blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 9, 11.
The message was not “Don’t drink and go to meetings.” It was in effect: Look what you have seen in me. And it is God who deserves the glory. Rev. Sam Shoemaker put it more eloquently by suggesting “Marvel at what God has done for you.” Shoemaker, If I Be Lifted Up, pp. 13, 84, 141) That sharing of what God has done and giving Him the credit, said Sam. is what strangely warms the hearts; Shoemaker, National Awakening, p.28).
11. Walking in Love and Service:
The United Christian Endeavor Society of Dr. Bob’s youth stressed “love and service” as its theme. And years later, Dr. Bob declared that the Twelve Steps, when simmered to their essence, amounted to “love and service.” Dick B. The James Club, pp. 142, 154-155.
“Walk in love,” declares the Word. And he that is “chiefest,” says the Word, is he who must serve others. Strong verses about these two principles are:
Love: “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
Serve: “But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-44; Dick B.: This was a favorite quote by Dr. Bob, pointing to the humility needed in helping others. Wilson put the following in his Tradition Two: “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed, p. 562)
12. Fellowship with like-minded believers: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship Is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1John 1:3) “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42)
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17. Dick B.: Some things Christians might think about useful senses- knowledge thoughts in A.A. itself: (a) Stay away from slippery places and slippery people. (b) If you go into a barbershop, expect to get a haircut. (c) Frequently meetings are described as “Centers for Self- centeredness,” “Relationships Anonymous,” and “Alcoholics Monotonous,” where the talk is all about fear, sexual r relationships, daily problems, misery, suffering, and failures. Whether you regard such meetings as appropriate in the A.A. light, or whether you regard them as feeding-troughs of unbelief, negative ideas, Christian-bashing, or despair, you’ll get very little profit or support or Biblical fortification by chumming around in them. Or with the people who keep offering human negativity instead of Christian victory. One archivist suggested: Stay away from “group depression meetings.” In difficult King’s English, 2 Corinthians 10:5 says:
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Better to vote with your feet! Unless you are there to snag and rescue a newcomer. But go where believers go, read what they read, say what they say, do what they do, and ignore the company of naysayers. Those of my sponsees who embraced A.A. and didn’t reject it, but who also welcomed fellowship with believers had an enviable record of positive success in A.A. and in attaining the abundant life that Jesus came to provide — John 10:10)
12. Attend church or Bible studies and fellowships.
If you want to stick with the pioneer winners and do what their leader Dr. Bob did, you’ll recognize the importance he placed on attending church in sobriety. Also, his repeated stress on Bible study and prayer. Even in the Big Book, Bill Wilson wrote: “Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships” (Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 28). At page 87, Wilson also suggested in his Eleventh Step discussion: “There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister,or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer” (p. 87).
In early A.A., there was no endorsement of any particular sect or denomination. Neither was there any ballyhoo against them, like that you sometimes hear today. Similarly, A.A. was aligned with no particular church, sect, or denomination and hence kept the doors open to all even in the founding days—to the point that, when Cleveland Roman Catholics were having difficulty with the Akron Protestant leanings, they followed the lead of the non-Roman Catholic old-timer Clarence Snyder and formed the first A.A. group consisting of alcoholics only—in Cleveland. Remember too that they took with them to their Cleveland fellowship the Bible and the teachings of Jesus in the “Four Absolutes” in toto
13. Recognizing that the early AAs had as their objective the cure of alcoholism by the Creator, about which the three earliest members spoke so much (See Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 191; Dick B., The Golden Text of A.A.; Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts).
Chapter 2 - The Healing Evidence at the Time When A.A. Was Born
Miracles Never Ceased
The extensive records of Divine healing through the ages: The record of healing approaches that relied on God and took their facts from the Bible has simply blasted unbelieving A.A. revisionists out of the water when that record is compared to their self-help and self- made spirituality themes.
These people either don’t know or don’t want to get into the hefty volumes about signs, miracles, wonders, and cures by the power of God. There are volumes of recorded histories of healings that: (1) begin in the Old Testament, (2) continue through the healings by Jesus, (3) were wrought by the Apostles and early Christians as recorded in the Book of Acts; (4) continued with the Church Fathers and then (5) on down through the ages.
See Herbert Lockyear, All the Miracles of the Bible: The Supernatural in Scripture—Its Scope and Significance. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pubishing House, 1961; G. H. R. Shafto. The Wonders of The Kingdom: A Study of the Miracles of Jesus. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1924; Morton T. Kelsey. Psychology, Medicine & Christian Healing: A Revised and Expanded Edition of Healing & Christianity. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988; Pearcy Dearmer. Body and Soul: An Enquiry Into The Effects of Religion Upon Health, With a Description of Christian Works of Healing From the New Testament to the Present Day. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1909; J. R. Pridie. The Church’s Ministry of Healing. London: Society for Promoting Chistian Knowledge, 1926; F. W. Puller. Anointing of the Sick In Scripture and Tradition With Some Consideration of the Numbering of the Sacraments. London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1904; and C.S. Lewis. Miracles:
How God Intervenes in Nature and Human Affairs. New York: Collier Books, 1960.
One of the best and most comprehensive renditions of my own research work on this subject was included in the address I gave at The Second Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference in Wilmington, Delaware. And after the conference, I revised the materials and did an immense amount of additional research. You can find it in my new title Dick B. When Early AAs Were Cured and Why. 3rd ed. Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006. In Appendix Three of that title is my documentation with the title “Miracles Not to Be Forgotten” at pages 143 to 159. There is also an extensive Bibliography in the title.
Recognition of the Efficacy of Healings
The Remarks of Clergy at Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies about the efficacy of divine healing of alcoholism: The foregoing material was available and discussed, though probably ignored, when the A.A. program was being launched. Dr. Bob certainly studied these matters extensively as a reading of the books in his library quickly shows. And at the very conference where Bill Wilson was in attendance and speaking, scholars were making the following statements. The specifics are laid out in my title When Early AAs Were Cured, supra, pp. 1-3.
The remarks are those of Reverend Francis W. McPeek, Executive Director of the Federation of Churches in Washington, D.C. and of The Reverend Dr. Otis R. Rice, Director, St. Luke’s Hospital, New York. First, from Rev. McPeek’s comments:
It is, moreover, the insistence of historical Christianity that no man can live fully without a knowledge of and dependence upon God. . . . No one is exempt.
The deep-running for a faith which united and heals the soul and directs the will, and the bits of emotionally tinged knowledge of God from earlier times, are activated in many ways. . . . Augustine was converted by reading a single passage. St. Anthony by a single word.
Much work was done in city missions and particularly by the Salvation Army. . . . Generally speaking, the Salvationists have capitalized on the techniques that have made other reform programs work.
[Early AAs were pointed to the best-selling book by Harold Begbie Twice-Born Men that described the Salvationist work in the London slums. As summarized by Rev. McPeek, those techniques were:] (1) Insistence on abstinence [the primary rule for A.A. pioneers]. (2) reliance on God [the first test required by Dr. Bob as newcomers left the hospital] (3) the provision of new friendships among those who understand [the social and religious comradeship that was part of the pioneer program] (4) the opportunity to work with those who suffer from the same difficulty [the love and service to other alcoholics that was, as Dr. Bob expressed it, the essence of the new ideas in A.A.] (5) unruffled patience and consistent faith in the ability of the individual and in the power of God to accomplish the desired ends [The whole Akron program involved living in the homes of people like Bob and Anne Smith, having Quiet Time, reading Christian literature, and engaging in ceaseless conversions, Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and witness].
Continuing his comments to the Yale Audience, Rev. McPeek said: Certain things may be held as conclusive. Towering above them all is this indisputable fact: It is faith in the living God which has accounted for more recoveries from the disease than all other therapeutic agencies put together.
And then from the Reverend Dr. Rice to the Yale Summer School: It is from the fact that one is a miserable sinner, and the acceptance of the fact that by God’s promise one can become His son, that cures are made and that lives are made worthwhile.
Healing Assurances pioneer AAs heard and studied in the Bible itself and in verses from it:
There are enough verses the AAs studied in the Bible on healing to keep you busy reading for weeks, and the following are neither exhaustive nor complete. They simply show a little of what God had to say as He spoke through His Word. They also show what early AAs were regularly hearing, studying and believing. We know this because we know that the devotionals they used daily contained these very verses. See Nora Holm. The Runner’s Bible (reprinted) Lakewood, Co: Acropolis Books, 1998, pp. 171-196. Also the many verses in the Methodist Quarterly the Upper Room, which was given to every one of the pioneers. And in the many healing books studied and circulated by Dr. Bob to the pioneer AAs and their families. See Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library, 3rd ed. Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998, pp. 35-40, 83 -89; Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and
Addicts, Paradise, supra; God and Alcoholism, Paradise, supra..
Verses In the Old Testament:
. . . I am the LORD [Yahweh] that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26b)
. . . Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. . . (2 Kings 20:5)
Bless the LORD, O my soul. . . . Who forgiveth all thine I niquities, who healeth all thy diseases (Psalm 103:1, 3)
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them (Psalm 107:19-20)
I have seen his ways and will heal him (Isaiah 57:18)
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD (Jeremiah 30:17)
Verses in the Gospels:
And in that same hour he [Jesus] cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight (Luke 7:21)
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. . . (John 5:8-10; compare Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed, p. 19)
[After he had cured many of their infirmities and given sight to the blind] . . . Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached (Matthew 7:22)
And when he [Jesus] had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease (Matthew 10:1)
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore he said unto them. . . . And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you (Luke 10:1-2, 9)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12)
[After the apostles and others had seen Jesus risen from the dead following his resurrection, Peter preached as follows:] How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem. . . .(Acts 10:38-39).
And then among the many verses, after the Gospels:
“And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. . . . And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:12, 14- 16)
Were and are the records AAs studied on divine healing of any relevance to the cures early AAs claimed?
• The real question here is whether – seventy-five years after the founding of the A.A. Society - we can say that A.A. has developed a program of complete recovery (Let’s get bold and say, as Bill W., Dr. Bob, and Bill D. said it, a cure for those afflicted with alcoholism.
The answer will depend on several factors: What is alcoholism? What is the meaning of A recovery and of A cure? What were the ingredients of our original program? Was it dependent upon God? What God are we talking about? What answers were given by our founders and pioneers? What was the real success rate? How important is that history? Can we apply the answers to the cure of alcoholism in today’s A.A.
• It sums up this way: have we really got something to share about early A.A. and Christianity with others today? If so, what is it that we can share? And let’s start with what A.A.’s own literature told us several decades ago:
When Bill left Akron in late August 1935, there were four members possibly five counting Phil, who might have been in the process of drying out. From that fall to spring, Bill helped Hank P. and Fitz M., among others, get sober in New York. He made a short visit to Akron in April, 1936, writing Lois that he had spent the weekend and was also happy about everything there. Bob and Anne and Henrietta Seiberling have been working so hard with those men and with really wonderful success. There were very joyous get-togethers at Bob’s, Henrietta’s, and the Williams’s by turns. In September 1936, there was another visit, with Bill’s arrival Aa signal for a house party, which was very touching, he wrote. AAnne and Bob and Henrietta have done a great job. There were several new faces since spring. In February 1937, another count was taken, and there were seven additional members in Akron, for a total of 12. Half of these had or would have some sort of slip, and at least one would never be really successful in the A.A. program thereafter. For most, however, the slip was a convincer. There were dozens of others who were exposed to the program up to February 1937. Some were successful for a time, then drifted away. Some came back. Others died. Some, like ALil, may have found another way [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980, pp. 108-09]. Word of Akron’s Anot-drinking-liquor club had already spread to nearby towns, such as Kent and Canton, and it was probably early 1937 when a few prospects started drifting down from Cleveland. In the beginning, it was in twos and threes (By 1939, there were two carloads) [DR. BOB, supra, p. 122]
In November of that year [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 the noses of our recoveries. AA hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober a couple of years, an unheard of development, he said. AThere were twenty or more such people. All told, we figured that upwards of 40 alcoholics were staying bone dry. As we carefully rechecked this score, Bill said, it suddenly burst upon us that a new light was shining into the dark world of the alcoholic.
. . a Achain reaction had started, and AConceivably it could one day circle the whole world. . . . We actually wept for joy, Bill said, Aand Bob and Anne and I bowed our heads in silent thanks [DR. BOB, supra, p 123].
AA 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, said Bill [RHS, p. 8].
• The founders’ elation over successes was more than justified and confirmed by the careful investigation of Frank Amos and reported to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1938. Frank Amos gave Rockefeller a glowing report about Dr. Bob and Akron’s Group Number One that had caught Mr. Rockefeller’s interest and had further encouraged the formation of the Alcoholic Foundation. And Frank Amos has left us with a detailed description of the program as it stood before the writing of the Big Book began. Bill began writing the Big Book in 1938. According to his secretary, Nell Wing, there were slightly more than 70 alcoholics that had achieved sobriety. There never were the A100 men and women that Bill mentioned when the Big Book was published in the Spring of 1939. Of those who were sober, fifty percent had maintained continuous sobriety; twenty-five percent had achieved sobriety after relapse; and the remainder Ashowed improvement. These were the people who “really tried,” to use Bill’s terms; and we have no doubt that there were many other “rim-runners” who came and went but simply never made the cut. By the early 1940's, records in Cleveland showed that 93 percent of those who came to A.A. never had a drink again [DR. BOB, supra, p. 261].
And now for the history to be taught, learned, known, and passed along.
Chapter 3 - Alcoholics Anonymous, the Founders, Belief in Almighty God and Divine Healing
Without Any Apparent Exception, A.A.’s Founders Believed the Creator Cured Them
The Founders and Early A.A. Writings and Statements: There is no need here to go to the documentation in my titles God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st Century; Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts; and When Early AAs Were
Cured and Why. Suffice it to say that Bill Wilson said the Lord had cured him of his terrible disease. Dr. Bob spoke of Wilson’s being cured and then told the staff at his hospital that he and another [Wilson] had discovered a cure for alcoholism. A.A. Number Three, Bill Dotson, declared that Wilson’s statement that the Lord had cured him had become for him [Dotson] the golden text of A.A. (See Dick B., The Golden Text of A.A.)
The Pioneer Members: Early Pioneer member Clarence Snyder spoke many times of the cures early AAs had received. See Mitch K., How It Worked. It’s not accidental that the person who drafted one of the proposed covers for the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (published in 1939) put the following in prominent print on the cover: “Alcoholics Anonymous: Their Pathway to a Cure.” Wilson and Hank Parkhurst were so convinced of their cure for alcoholism that they prepared an outline of their new book whose title page read: “Alcoholics Anonymous Published by Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc. A Non Profit Organization for the Promotion of Cure and Understanding of Alcoholism.” Extensive remarks of this kind were made by Larry Jewell (who was sponsored by Dr. Bob and Clarence Snyder). Jewell made them in a series of articles he wrote for The Houston Press in 1940. And the words of these old timers were echoed by others contemporaneously. The Reverend Dr. Dilworth Lupton, pastor of the First Unitarian Church in Cleveland, wrote of the new cure in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1939. Morris Markey spoke of the miraculous cure for habitual drunkards in his Liberty Magazine article in 1939. Theodore English wrote in Scribner’s Commentator in January of 1941 that Wilson had developed a cure that had enlisted half the alcoholics encountered by the Houston AA group and cured two-thirds of them. Dr. William Duncan Silkworth (who wrote the Doctor’s Opinion for Alcoholics Anonymous) told one of his alcoholic patients (Charles K.) that the only hope for his cure was through the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. See Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ (NY: Guideposts, 1980), pp. 59-63 and Dale Mitchel. Silkworth The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002, pp. 46-51. Writing in 1939, Silkworth had buttressed the new approach by Wilson’s A.A. by saying:
That the chronic alcoholic has sometimes recovered by religious means is a fact centuries old. But these recoveries have been sporadic, insufficient in numbers or impressiveness to make headway with the alcoholic problem as a whole (Mitchel, Silkworth, supra, p. 159, bold face added) A.A.’s own publication: Finally, the AA Grapevine published an article by the famous medical writer Paul de Kruif stating the AA.A.’s medicine is God and God alone. This is their discovery. . . [and] that the patients it cures have to nearly die before they can bring themselves to take it.
The Recent Surveys after 2000 by Richard K. I will not go into further details about what happened when the A.A. Christian Fellowship tackled the problem because Richard K. (a young investigative reporter, researcher, and A.A. member in Massachusetts) has done a masterful job of documenting hundreds and hundreds of contemporary statements—by early AAs, by newspapers, by magazines, and in A.A.’s own scrap books at World Headquarters— that AAs all over the United States were being cured of Alcoholism. This research and these records should not go unexamined and ignored by those who want to know if there is proof of early A.A. cures. See Richard K. New Freedom: Reclaiming Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005
Manuscript, consisting of more than 500 pages that are carefully presented, documented in detail with extensive footnotes, and include an extensive bibliography.
In Appendix I, Richard compiled and presented the most detailed and thoroughly documented study of the early A.A. pioneers and their recovery histories. The appendix is titled, “A New Light: The First Forty”: A Chronological Survey of the Early A.A. Pioneers” (December 1934-1939), pp. 379-389.
In Appendix II, Richard offers his “Diary of a Cure (A Documented Chronology of A.A.’s Cure for Alcoholism).” His detailed items can be found at pp. 391-434 of New Freedom, supra.
This 2005 effort follows equally probative works by Richard K.
The New Freedom piece follows three other scholarly works on the subject by Richard K. A New Light: The First Forty – A Chronological survey of the Early A.A. Pioneers (1934-1939), Haverhill, MA: Golden Text Publishing Company, 2003; Early A.A. – Separating Fact from Fiction: How Revisionists Have Led Our History Astray, Golden Text Publishing, supra, 2003; So You Think Drunks Can’t Be Cured? – Press Releases By Witnesses to the Cure. Golden Text Publishing, supra, 2003.