AMERICA, November 9, 1957
COPING WITH THE PROBLEM OF THE DRINKER
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF A.A.
John C. Ford
After the first four years of its existence the membership of
Alcoholics Anonymous totaled only one hundred persons. Today
the membership is over 200,000 in 7,000 groups in 70 countries
and U.S. possessions. The present volume, most of which
has been written (anonymously, of course) by the surviving
co-founder of A.A., is the fascinating story of the beginnings
and the development of this unique organization. No other
movement or method has been so successful in the large-scale
recovery of alcoholics.
The author, Bill W., begins with an account of the Twentieth
Anniversary Convention of A.A. at St. Louis, and uses the
proceedings there as a starting point for a series of flashbacks
which reveal the principal events in the early days of the
movement. A.A. originally had a close connection with the
Oxford Groups and was influenced in some of its terminology,
ideas and methods by that movement. Fortunately for
Catholics, however, it completely divorced itself from that
movement at an early date in its history, and never incorporated
into its program any of those theological ideas or practices
which made the Oxford Group movement unacceptable to Catholics.
The first part of the book ends with an account of how the
old-timers in A.A., on July 3, 1955, turned over the affairs of
the organization to the fellowship itself, as represented by its
General Service conference. "There our fellowship
declared itself come to the age of full responsibility, and
there it received from its founders and old-timers permanent
keeping of its three great legacies of Recovery, Unity and
Service.
The Legacy of Recovery is embodied in the Twelve Steps, the
heart of "the program." The Legacy of Unity is
embodied in the Twelve Traditions, which are the fruit of A.A.
experience in the days of its mushroom growth. These
traditions are meant to safeguard the unity of the fellowship
with a minimum of organization and an absolute minimum of
anything like formal authority or government. The Third
Legacy, of Service, is essentially derived from the Steps and
Traditions, especially the Twelfth Step; "Having had a
spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these
principles in all our affairs" but the Third Legacy is
administered, as it were, by the elected representatives who
constitute the General Service Conference. This is not a
governing body -- there is none in A.A. It exists merely to
provide the services which are obviously required if the message
of Recovery is to be spread around the world.
A.A.'s renunciation of formal authority over its members goes so
far that it does not even claim the right to determine who are
or who are not members. There are sanctions, of course.
First, the most powerful one of John Barleycorn himself,
who may well condemn to death those who do not live by the Steps
and Traditions and who thus relapse. There is also the
sanction of public opinion within the fellowship, which may bear
heavily on those who do not conform to some important
traditions, e.g., that of anonymity at the public level. It
remains to be seen whether in the course of time such vague and
indeterminate sanctions will continue to be both effective in
maintaining some basic unity in the organization, and just to
the individual members, who are frequently assured, on being
received into the groups, that 'there are no rules and no musts
in A.A."
Bill, the co-founder, explains the three legacies in three talks
which in substance were delivered by him at the St. Louis
convention; they continue the narration of A.A.'s history and
growth. This method of grouping past events around the
ideas of Recovery, Unity and Service, though it forsakes
chronological order, is a very effective method of imparting
instruction and maintaining interest at the same time. It
would be confusing were it not for an excellent chronological
table provided at the beginning of the book. In the last
pages there are included some of the talks given by friends of
A.A. at the St. Louis convention. One chapter is entitled
'Medicine Looks at A.A.,"and another "Religion Looks
at A.A."
A.A. emphatically repudiates the idea that it is a religious
sect or movement, or that it advocates any system of theological
doctrine. Except for the simple idea that the alcoholic
should acknowledge a Higher Power, "God, as we understood
Him," and should ask for God's help, A.A. steers clear of
any further theological involvement. An important
declaration is made on p. 232 by Bill W. "Speaking for Dr.
Bob (the other co-founder) and myself I would like to say that
there has never been the slightest intent, on his part or mine,
of trying to found a new religious denomination. Dr. Bob
held certain religious convictions, and so do I. This is,
of course, the personal privilege of every A.A. member. Nothing,
however, would be so unfortunate for A.A.'s future as an attempt
to incorporate any of our personal theological views into A.A.'s
teaching, practice or traditions. Were Dr. Bob still with
us, I am positive he would agree that we could never be too
emphatic about this matter."
Catholics will find in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
nothing contrary to Catholic ascetical and theological teaching.
In fact the vast majority of Catholics who sober up in A.A.
become better Catholics in the process.
Not only the members of A.A. will enjoy this well-written and
absorbing account. Anyone who is interested in seeing what
can happen when men and women with a common problem love and
help one another should read it. The paradox of victory
through defeat comes to life here.
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