The Evolution Of The 12 Steps Of AA
August 24, 2006 by Mark
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The West Baltimore Group of Alcoholics Anonymous has a sweet web site where they have posted a very substantial quantity of AA history.
On one page they repeat the recovery writing of a man named Clarence H. Snyder titled “How It Worked.”
Contained within this work is “The Evolution of The 12 Steps of AA.”
They say;
“When Bill Wilson sat down to write ideas for what were to be the Twelve Steps of A.A, he didn’t just get them out of thin air. He had a basis for the Steps, founded on spiritual principles already in place. There come from the precepts of the Oxford Group, the Washington Temperance Movement (The Washingtonians), Biblical principles, and literature such as: The Common Sense of Drinking, by Richard Peabody, For Sinners Only, by A.J. Russell, I Was A Pagan, by V.C Kitchen, The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, and others.
When Bill wrote the Twelve Steps, six were already in place in one form or another. Bill felt that the six steps had some loopholes through which an alcoholic could slip. He was not satisfied with the six already in place and decided to expand upon them so alcoholics could have a program of recovery, separate from the Oxford Group and separate from association with them. When he put the Twelve Steps in their original form, Bill felt at ease with them.”
When you have the chance, check it out.
I love learning more and more. What did I learn from this post?
“Bill felt that the six steps had some loopholes through which an alcoholic could slip”
Divinely inspired.
The complete evolution of the Twelve Steps has several epochal periods and varied directions. First, came the pre-A.A. successes of the rescue missions, the YMCA, Salvation Army, Evangelists, Christian Endeavor, Oxford Group, and Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Jr. (see Real Twelve Step History and Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous). Next came the Christian training of Bill and Bob as youngsters in Vermont (see also The Conversion of Bill W.). Then came the factors that Bill and Bob really brought to the table in Akron (see The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps for You). In the interim from 1935 to 1938, Akron had astonishing successes. The program was succinctly summarized by Frank Amos (see DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 131). On the other hand, Wilson spoke of six “word-of-mouth” ideas that were in use. Bill then sat down with Rev. Sam Shoemaker, absorbed 10 of the 12 step ideas from Shoemaker’s teaching and penned the Big Book and Twelve Steps (see Dick B. New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.). From these well-springs (as Bill called them)the student can determine for himself the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible, in the A.A. evolution. God Bless, Dick B.