A.A.’s Twelve Steps and Relevant Sources in the Bible
Posted: Friday, June 11, 2010
by Richard Burns, J.D.
Dick B.
Recently, I wrote to the author of a rather-typical, parallel listing of the Twelve Steps and what he thought were the pertinent Bible verses connected with each of the Steps. The approach is laudable. But I believe the following Step comments, which have been edited slightly, will be helpful.
Congratulations on your parallels between the Steps and biblical ideas as you see them. This has been going on for many many years as various AAs tried to link the Steps to the Bible. And see Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible. ( www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml )
(1) What did Dr. Bob mean when he said that the basic ideas for the Steps came from the study of the Bible? The context is found in his last major address where he specifically mentioned the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 as absolutely essential ( www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml ).
(2) Having some Christian like Rev. John Baker of Celebrate Recovery or Saul Selby of Hazelden or the instant writer pair up Steps with Bible ideas–but that wasn't how the early AAs viewed the matter.
(3) Taking the Steps for what they are: According to A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson, they were derived largely from Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker's sharing the Oxford Group life-changing ideas with Bill ( www.dickb.com/NewLight.shtml ). Shoemaker's Oxford Group friends and colleagues also played a role ( www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml ). Both Shoemaker and Oxford Group Founder Dr. Frank Buchman were ardent Bible quoters and students, and the best actual biblical sources for Step ideas can be seen in how Shoemaker and the Oxford Group writers carefully based each of their 28 life-changing ideas on various Bible verses. (Although this is somewhat different from what Dr. Bob suggested and much different from the approach many Christian writers have taken.) That doesn't make the Oxford Group writers' ideas correct, but it does set the Step picture straight. God Bless, Dick B. http://www.dickb.com "
Perhaps the most valuable approach for the 12-Step/Bible study student is to learn the Twelve Steps; learn the instructions in the Big Book for "taking" them; and see how the Christian and biblical materials were basically thrown out of the Big Book text and the Steps before they went to press in 1939. The student can then take the Steps and the Big Book for what they are: twelve suggested steps for recovery and for "finding" God. Having done that, the student can study how Dr. Bob approached the Bible through the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13; see how those ideas filtered into the early Akron program and even into the Big Book; and then grow in understanding of the power and love of God by studying the Bible and asking wisdom of God as well. (See James 1:5ff).
© 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved
DickB@DickB.com www.DickB.com
Gloria Deo
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