The James Club and The Original A.A. Programs Absolute Essentials

Part One: - A.A.'s Book of James

The Favorite of Three Parts of the Bible Early AAs Considered Essential

Early, Widespread A.A. Enthusiasm for the Book of James

What the Founders Said:

Bill Wilson had gotten sober in New York at Towns Hospital in late 1934. He went to Akron on a business deal, and met Dr. Bob Smith at Henrietta Seiberling's Gate House. Shortly thereafter, at Anne Smith's suggestion, Bill moved in with the Smiths. Though not particularly accurate in its characterization of the daily Bible readings, one official A.A. history says:

Bill now joined Bob and Anne in the Oxford Group practice of having morning guidance sessions together, with Anne reading from the Bible [Note: Oxford Group 'guidance' did often involve reading from the Bible, but the Smith-Wilson Bible studies were inappropriately called 'guidance' sessions; the studies were directed at the Bible itself, at prayer, at literature, and at such revelation from their Heavenly Father as they chose to seek]

[The A.A. account continues:]. "Reading. . . from her chair in the corner, she would softly conclude, >Faith without works is dead.' "As Dr. Bob described it, they were 'convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew, Chapters 5-7], the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James. The Book of James was considered so important, in fact, that some early members even suggested The James Club as a name for the Fellowship'." (See Pass It On. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984, p. 147; emphasis added).

Published four years earlier, and written by a different author, another A.A. "Conference Approved" history tells the facts somewhat more accurately. Thus DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), states at p. 71:

"For the next three months [after Bill met Bob in May of 1935], I [Bill] lived with these two wonderful people," Bill said. "I shall always believe they gave me more than I ever brought them." Each morning, there was a devotion, he recalled. After a long silence, in which they awaited inspiration and guidance, Anne would read from the Bible. "James was our favorite," he said. "Reading from her chair in the corner, she would softly conclude, 'Faith without works is dead.' This was a favorite quotation of Anne's, much as the Book of James was a favorite with early A.A.'s so much so that 'The James Club' was favored by some as a name for the Fellowship (emphasis added).

In his own history of early A.A., Bill Wilson wrote:

And we could remember Anne as she sat in the corner by the fireplace, reading from the Bible the warning of James, that "faith without works is dead." (Alcoholics Comes of Age. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1967, p.7).

Historian Ernest Kurtz quoted Wilson as saying, "We much favored the Apostle James" (Ernest Kurtz, Not-God, Expanded ed. (MN: Hazelden, 1991, pp. 40, 320, n.11, emphasis added).

John R. was a well-known, long-lived Akron A.A. old-timer. And John specifically recalled as to these matters that much of the work on the writing of the Big Book "went on the Q.T." He said the average member wasn't aware of it. Then, as to the name Alcoholics Anonymous that was proposed for the Big Book, John R. tells us this in DR. BOB, supra, p. 213:

"Take the name A.A., for instance," said John. "The people here in Akron didn't like it, and they were saying no. Wally G.-said, 'Hey, what's with this A.A. deal? We want to call it Saint James.' But Doc knew all the time that they were going to call it A.A. . . . They had it that way before we knew it. Then it dawned on Wally that he was arguing against it and they had already named it. Boy, that used to make him sore! But he was a nice guy" (emphasis added).

Historian Bill Pittman wrote of an alleged "Dr. Bob's Required Reading List"-something that Dr. Bob's daughter told me did not exist. However, among his five named "required" items, Pittman placed first on his list "The Holy Bible, King James Version. The Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, The Book of James, The 13th Chapter of First Corinthians" (Bill Pittman, AA The Way It Began. Seattle: Glen Abbey Books, 1988, p. 197; emphasis added).

In his last major address to AAs in 1948, Dr. Bob said:

When we started in on Bill D. [A.A. Number Three], we had no Twelve Steps. ...But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.... (The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Biographical sketches their last major talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 9-10; emphasis added).

In a pamphlet published by the Friday Forum Luncheon Club of the Akron A.A. Groups, the pamphlet's writer selected the following from a "lead" [talk] given by Dr. Bob in Youngstown, Ohio:

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous begin the day with a prayer for strength and a short period of Bible reading. They find the basic messages they need in the Sermon on the Mount, in Corinthians and the Book of James (Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible, 2d ed, Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997, p 21; emphasis added).

A pamphlet published by "AA of Akron," and written at the request of Dr. Bob states:

There is the Bible that you haven't opened for years. Get acquainted with it. Read it with an open mind. You will find things that will amaze you. You will be convinced that certain passages were written with you in mind. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew V, VI, and VII). Read St. Paul's inspired essay on love (I Corinthians XIII). Read the Book of James. Read the Twenty-third and Ninety-first Psalms. These readings are brief but so important (Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book, supra, p. 20; emphasis added).

Several others who have researched our history have also confirmed this early James emphasis

See Nan Robertson, Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous. (NY: Fawcett Crest, 1988), p. 47; Bill Pittman. AA: The Way It Began, supra, pp. 182-183, 197; Mitchell K., How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder (Washingtonville, NY: AA Big Book Study Group, 1999), pp. 69, 103-104; Dick B., That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous. (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1996), pp. 34-37, 71, 73-76; Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book, supra, See the Foreword by Dr. Bob's son, Robert R. Smith; Charles Taylor Knippel. Samuel M. Shoemaker's Theological Influence on William G. Wilson's Twelve Step Spiritual Program of Recovery. (St. Louis: Ph. D. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Saint Louis University, 1987); Wally P., But For the Grace of God...

(WV: The Bishop of Books, 1995), pp. 32, 39, 45, 205, 211-213, 225; Women Pioneers in 12 Step Recovery (MN: Hazelden, 1999), pp. 1-2, 11-16.

As we will discuss shortly, Nora Smith Holm's The Runner's Bible: Spiritual Guidance for People on The Run (Colorado: Acropolis Books, Publisher, 1998 Edition) was very popular in pioneer A.A. and used particularly by Dr. Bob .That devotional was filled with references to verses in James that became part and parcel of A.A. language and ideas. See pp.16, 46, 51, 73, 79, 81, 86-87, 95-98, 100-101, 106, 110, 121, 126-127, 139, 152, 181, 184, 186, 221, 230, 245-246. And I found virtually the same plethora of relevant James quotations in the four years of quarterlies published...