This is the much awaited work of A.A. Historian Dick B. on the origins of each of the Twelve Steps that were written by Bill Wilson and published in A.A.'s Big Book.
This title is first and foremost a history of each step. It shows how each of A.A.'s co-founders contributed to each of the Steps, either by their writings or their principles and practices. It looks at the original Akron A.A. program which had no steps at all and took its basic ideas from the Bible and the principles and practices primarily from the Unite Christian Endeavor Movement of Dr. Bob's youth. Then--source by source--it looks at each step as it was impacted upon by a particular contributor. Thus at the contributions of the Bible, then the Oxford Group, then Rev. Sam Shoemaker, then the teachings of Dr. Bob's wife Anne Smith, then the so-called "six steps" as Bill termed his version of the original word-of-mouth program, and then the other sources. In this respect, the book is an historical study of the roots of each Step; and it can be used in a very meaningful way for individual and for group study of the Steps.
It is also a guide. A guide to understanding, and a guide to taking each step. It shows you how to take the Steps exactly as directed in A.A.'s Big Book. It also suggests how you might look at each of the Steps in terms of all those who contributed to its language and meaning. Finally, it provides Christians and students with a means of considering, learning, and "taking" each of the Steps in light of its Biblical and historical roots with the Big Book, Bible, and history close at hand.
When you are through, you will have a perspective of the real spiritual utility of the Twelve Steps in a believer's world, despite the secularization and universalism that are diluting all Twelve Step programs and the language used in connection with the Steps. You'll see and understand such ideas as "powerless" and "God as we understood Him" exactly as they were presented and intended to be understood wheh they were written.
You'll know and guide the taking of the Twelve Steps as they were intended to be understood and taken. And you'll do it as you never did before.
