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A.A., Reverend Sam Shoemaker, and the
Oxford Group
As Bill Wilson Saw Them
by Dick B., Copyright, 2002
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Part Two:
The Shoemaker Difference
Bill Wilson came to know Rev. Sam Shoemaker quite well. Bill and his wife
Lois went to Oxford Group meetings led by Shoemaker. Shoemaker and Bill
corresponded from the very first days of Bill’s sobriety. Bill was present in
Shoemaker’s church in early 1936 when Shoemaker officiated at liturgical
services for Ebby and with Shep Cornell. Shoemaker and Bill discussed the
principles and Steps and Big Book manuscript of A.A. before they were written
up. Bill and Lois met Shoemaker at Oxford Group house-parties. And all of these
things occurred before A.A. had taken formal shape in the Spring of 1939. I’ve
covered the other items–Shoemaker’s articles for A.A.’s Grapevine, Shoemaker’s
speeches at A.A.’s Conventions, Shoemaker’s own writings about the Twelve Steps
and what the Church could learn from A.A., and Shoemaker’s attendance at talks
made by Bill in New York. But the important thing is: What can we learn about
A.A. that Sam Shoemaker’s role illuminated.
The Akron Difference
Once I learned the dramatic difference between the A.A. "Program" that was
developed in Akron from 1935 to 1938, outlined in the seven points reported to
Rockefeller by Frank Amos, and embodied in the personal stories of the Akron and
Cleveland people in the First Edition, I saw a whole new light on alcoholism.
And I wrote my Shoemaker book, New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker,
and A.A. (http://www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml
In 1931, Shoemaker was the one who came to Akron and then, with the
Firestones and Jim Newton, took Bud Firestone to Denver, converted him on the
return train ride, and earned the gratitude of the Firestones for helping Bud
achieve sobriety. Shoemaker remained in touch with the Firestone scene, and
several of his colleagues came there in 1933 for the famous Mayflower Hotel
events. They came also in 1934. And Shoemaker was in touch with Reverend Wright,
Dr. Bob’s pastor, about the successes in Akron as a result of Wilson’s visit
there in the summer of 1935. Furthermore, some of Sam’s books were part of Dr.
Bob’s Library. Some were specifically recommended in Anne Smith’s Journal.
And Sam’s book One Boy’s Influence was quoted in Anne’s writings. So
there was a very clear Shoemaker influence in the Akron arena.
But it was not the same influence as that found in Bill’s tiny circle of
drunks in New York. First of all, Dr. Bob does not seem to have mentioned Sam
though he certainly attended events where Sam was present. Second, we have found
no correspondence between Bob and Sam in contrast to the many communications
between Bill and Sam. Third, Dr. Bob said he did not write the Twelve Steps and
had nothing at all to do with writing them, whereas Bill had specifically
discussed them with Sam and asked Sam to write them. Fourth, years later, when I
asked Dr. Bob’s son to endorse my Shoemaker book (which he did), Smitty said
"Who was Shoemaker?" All of which tells me that Sam did not cut a very
impressive picture in the Akron birth of Alcoholics Anonymous.
What mattered in Akron were the Bible, prayer, quiet time, devotionals from
several denominations, and the acceptance of Christ. And none of these figured
much in the language of Bill Wilson or his wife Lois. Certainly not in their
reading. For Lois started out as a non-Christian Swedenborgian and Bill started
out as a conservative atheist. Neither ever joined or affiliated with a
Christian church, as so many of the Akron pioneers did–joining or going to the
Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church, and
others.
The Oxford Group/Shoemaker Connection
What Bob and Bill had in common, then, was not a Sam Shoemaker root, but
rather an Oxford Group affiliation. Bob’s came largely through his Akron
connections with Oxford Group activist T. Henry Williams and from his friendship
with Henrietta Seiberling and her interest in the Oxford Group after 1933.
Bill’s came largely from his connections with Oxford Group activists Sam
Shoemaker, Rowland Hazard, Shep Cornell, Irving and Julia Harris, Victor
Kitchen, and others in the Calvary Church circle in New York. Bob searched far
and wide in the Bible and Christian literature for his spiritual answers. Bill
did not. Yet in the long run, Bill virtually codified in his Big Book and Twelve
Steps the Oxford Group ideas he had learned directly from Rev. Sam Shoemaker in
New York. In the Big Book project, Bob focused on the personal stories of
recovery–which played a different tune than that found in A.A.’s basic text.
Nonetheless, the basic text and the stories appear to have been the subject of
complete agreement between Bill and Bob as to content. And Shoemaker’s ideas
were certainly harmonious with those of the Oxford Group as the Group ideas were
known by, and incorporated in, the discussions and practices of founders Bill W.
and Dr. Bob.
The Special Value to AAs of Knowing Shoemaker’s Role
As one who has read and analyzed almost every major Oxford Group writing,
including the writings of Sam Shoemaker, I can say that if you find a Shoemaker
word, phrase, idea, or practice in A.A., you will also find it in Oxford Group
writings–publications that didn’t come from Shoemaker. I was told this by Dr.
Frank Buchman’s biographer Garth D. Lean (who authored On the Tail of a Comet
and several other Oxford Group materials). I was told this by Mrs. W. Irving
Harris, wife of Shoemaker’s assistant minister, who lived in Calvary House; was
in charge of its Oxford Group book stall; and knew Bill Wilson, Sam Shoemaker,
and Frank Buchman quite well. I also could see the point clearly as I read Sam’s
earlier articles in defense of "Buchmanism" (as Roman Catholic and other critics
of the Oxford Group liked to label Frank Buchman’s "A First Century Christian
Fellowship"). I learned it particularly from my friends James D. and Eleanor
Forde Newton who went way back with both Frank Buchman and Sam Shoemaker. They
each had worked with, and for, Buchman and Shoemaker.
So what, then, is the special point of Shoemaker’s work as far as A.A. is
concerned? The answer, I believe, lies in the fact that Sam appears to have
written about, and used language similar to, every single Oxford Group idea Bill
Wilson adopted The same cannot be said of the other popular Oxford Group
works. Many–such as For Sinners Only, Life Began Yesterday,
Life-Changers, and I Was a Pagan–centered on stories and gave rise to
A.A. "story telling" practices. Some–such as The God Who Speaks, When
Man Listens, The Quiet Time, and The Guidance of God–focused
on the Oxford Group expression "Guidance." A few, such as Soul-Surgery
and Life-Changers, explained the life-changing 5 C’s–Confidence,
Confession, Conviction, Conversion, and Continuance–which became the heart of
A.A.’s middle Steps. Some, such as What is the Oxford Group?, Sharing,
The Venture of Belief, and Discipleship, endeavored to explain a
number of Oxford Group principles such as the Four Absolutes, Restitution,
Surrender, Sharing, Willingness, Believing, and Quiet Time. Some, such as The
Eight Points of the Oxford Group, The Principles of the Group,
Why I Believe in the Oxford Group, and The Breeze of the Spirit
attempted to systematize the Oxford Group program. All are useful. All embody
ideas I have heard straight from the mouths of Oxford Group activists
themselves. All enabled me to set forth the twenty-eight principles of the
Oxford Group that impacted on A.A. (See Dick B., The Oxford Group and
Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Works;
http://www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml.
But what about Sam and his immense number of writings? The answer is that Sam
wrote about every one of the foregoing Oxford Group principles. His books
tend to be reproductions of sermons he gave on pertinent topics. His style and
prose are beautiful and easy to read. Most important, many of the words,
phrases, and ideas in Sam’s titles appear at first blush to have been
"copied" almost verbatim by Bill Wilson into his Big Book. This is not to say
that they were copied. It may well be that Bill Wilson heard them so
often that they fell into place and did in fact cause him to say many times that
nobody invented Alcoholics Anonymous and that all its ideas were borrowed.
In this article, we’ll just run through Shoemaker and the first six A.A.
Steps in the hope you will see the importance of reading Shoemaker’s original
works or at least the summaries of them you will find in my titles, New
Light on Alcoholism, Good Morning!, Anne Smith’s Journal,
and The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth. (See Dick B. titles:
http://www.dickb.com/titles.shtml
If you then want the "full Monty" eloquently depicted, it is to Sam
Shoemaker’s writings themselves that you should turn. We have developed and
discussed Sam’s Step contributions in much more detail in two recent books, and
you might want to consult them for further facts and documentation. See Dick B.
By The Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups & Forming Similar Groups
Today (2000), pp. 69-146.
http://www.dickb.com/powerofgod.shtml.
See also Dick B. Utilizing Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today
(1998), pp. 49-56.
http://www.dickb.com/utilizing.shtml.
Shoemaker and The First Six Steps
Step One: Sin, wrote Sam, makes a gap between man and God that man
is "powerless to bridge;" and "we have lost the power to
do for ourselves" the climbing or crawling back the distance to "All-holy
God" (Shoemaker, If I Be Lifted Up, pp. 131-133). "God, manage me,
‘cause I can’t manage myself" was a cry heard round Sam’s Calvary Church
(Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit: Sam Shoemaker and the Story of
Faith at Work, p. 10).
Step Two: "The soundest approach I know to religious discovery is found
in St. John’s Gospel, chapter 7, verse 17: ‘If any man willeth to do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine.’ We are busy getting ‘willing to do His
will,’ and that means changing many of our ways" (Shoemaker, The Experiment
of Faith, p. 36). "We said that what God did for us on the Cross is
the cure and corrective for the gospel of ‘self help,’ so common to-day
even among believers (Shoemaker, If I Be Lifted Up, pp. 166-167). "God
is, or He isn’t. You leap one way or the other" (Shoemaker, Confident
Faith, p. 187).
Step Three: "That night I decided to ‘launch out into the deep:’ and with
the decision to cast my will and my life on God, there came an
indescribable sense of relief, of burdens dropping away" (Shoemaker,
Twice-Born Ministers, p. 134).
Step Four: "There is a moral obligation to be as intelligent as
you can. . . . Face all the facts you can find, honestly and fearlessly"
(Shoemaker, Religion That Works, p. 58). "It would be a very good thing
if you took a piece of foolscap paper and wrote down the sins you feel
guilty of. . . . Put down everything that doesn’t measure up. Be
ruthlessly, realistically honest" (Shoemaker, How to Become a Christian,
pp. 56-57).
Step Five: "I found it necessary to go to someone I could trust,
and make a clean breast of my sins" (Shoemaker, Confident Faith,
p. 41). "If a person is honest with himself and with God, he will be
honest also with us and ready to take the next step, which is a decision to
surrender these sins, with himself, wholly to God" (Shoemaker, The Church Can
Save the World, p. 112).
Step Six: "He must be willing to give up the sins which beset,
and to accept in full God’s plan for his life" (Shoemaker, Confident
Faith, p. 117).
Those are Teasers. You Look Up The Rest!
When I interviewed Congressman John Seiberling in his office at Akron
University during one of the Founders Day celebrations, I started reading him
the twenty-eight Oxford Group principles I found had impacted on A.A. I asked
him if he had ever heard any of them. He replied: "I’d have had to be deaf not
to hear them. My mother [Henrietta Seiberling] talked about them all the time."
And that’s how I felt when I started reading Shoemaker. Every book–and there
were more than thirty–contained some new statement of words and ideas I had
heard in A.A. from the beginning or had seen in my studies of the Big Book. The
A.A. words came alive! So that’s what those phrases meant to Bill Wilson, I
thought. So these are the roots of the Big Book ideas and the Twelve Steps, I
realized. These are the materials that documented both Bill’s and Sam’s "path"
to a relationship with God. And it was a path founded on a Shoemaker declaration
about the need to find God. "May you find Him now!, wrote Bill Wilson" It moved
on to the "turning point." Then began the "steps we took" and which–every one of
them–contained a Sam Shoemaker idea on a decision, an inventory, a confession,
the conviction, the conversion, the restitution, and then the last three
"continuance" steps.
Later, of course, I was to find that Wilson himself said in The Language
of the Heart that all of these Step ideas came straight from Sam Shoemaker.
And you will enjoy finding the rest of them. You can start with my title, By
the Power of God, and move on! On–if you like–to my voluminous study of all
Sam’s relevant writings, as set out in New Light on Alcoholism.
END
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