The Spiritual Heroes of 12 Step Recovery
Once a week, Frank Buchman traveled four hours each way to attend a theology course at Yale taught by Professor Henry Wright. Written on the chalkboard was always the same question posed by Wright’s own teacher and mentor the famous evangelist Dr. Dwight Moody. Wright began each class with two full minutes of silence while his students pondered these challenging words: “The world has yet to see what God can do in, for, by, and through a man whose will is wholly given up to Him.” Then Wright would pointedly ask his students, “Will you be that man?” Frank Buchman decided one day that he would.
Perhaps it’s only in light of this quote that the power and the drive behind Buchman’s life can be fully understood. Buchman set out not to change just his little corner of the world, he set out to change the whole world; anything short of that he considered a “half measure.” He also believed deeply that he was being asked and guided by God to lead such a movement. This may explain why some years later, when the growing group of alcoholics who had found their sobriety through Buchman’s Oxford Group decided to break away from the Group, someone is reported to have told Buchman the news of their immanent departure saying, “Frank, aren’t you concerned that the drunks are leaving?” Buchman’s response was predictable. “Concerned? No,” he said, “I have a drunken world to worry about.”
AA’s later insistence on never aligning itself with “any sect, denomination, politics organization or institution” also owes its origins to Buchman. He was steeped in all five - especially the politics. A quick look at the situation that existed in Europe between the two World Wars is critical to understanding Frank Buchman’s thinking. The Russian
Revolution had just brought a godless communism onto the world stage and China would soon follow suit. Much of Europe and Japan were witnessing the rise of fascist states, while socialism was rapidly gaining ground both in England and on the continent. Meanwhile, the institution most in decline just when its message was perhaps most needed in the world was the Christian Church. Buchman sincerely believed God was calling him to launch a revitalized Christianity to battle the forces poised to draw the world into a second conflagration even more devastating than World War I. He called his new movement a First Century Christian Fellowship.
Buchman’s Fellowship showed little appetite for doctrine or dogmas. He called for a return to the powerful life-changing principles that inspired Jesus’ first little band of followers. For Buchman, Jesus was always the model. His was a call to return to the foundational roots of First Century Christianity much in the tradition of a St. Francis, a
Martin Luther or a John Wesley. At the heart of his program lay the Four Absolutes that were perfectly reflected in Jesus’ life: Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, and Absolute Love. These were the four standards men and women needed to follow. This was the personal program that would transform the world, “one life at a time.” If someone wanted to know if a thought or an action was inspired and came from God, they’d put it up against that test. Was it absolutely honest, pure, unselfish and loving? If it was, Buchman said, “you could be pretty sure it came from God.” Buchman firmly believed that it was only through men and women showing the world how to live these principles that the world could be saved from the impending chaos. By the mid 1930’s, the radical change in personality that his program could produce was transforming an ever-growing number of people. A small minority of them were alcoholics.
And so this was the program that Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob came into. Known as the Oxford Group it was then near the height of its popularity both in Europe and the United States. Buchman assembled and trained “teams” of dedicated followers asking them to surrender, ”as much of themselves as they understood over to as much as God as they understood.” Then they made amends for harms they had done and forgave any people who had harmed them. Finally, they prayed for the guidance to be led wherever God might need them to go in order to be of service. The Group popularized little slogans to help carry their message – sayings things like: “First Things First,” “World Changing through Life Changing,” “When man listens, God speaks” – and a personal favorite of mine, the slogan they used when referring to those in the Church who still showed that some “blockage” existed between themselves and God: these they called Constipated Christians!
Oxford Group members spread out all over the world, calling people to a radical change in their life’s direction. The Group got its name when a band of them was traveling to South Africa and a newsman referred to their party as “the Oxford Group” - somehow, the name stuck. They were drawn particularly to areas of the world where conflicts seemed on the verge of breaking out, bringing their message of personal transformation. Selfishness and self-centeredness they viewed as the greatest obstacle that both individuals and nations needed to overcome if they were to lead a “surrendered life.” A.J. Russell, a noted British newspaper writer was converted to their cause and wrote a best-selling book called For Sinner’s Only that served as a model for the Big Book when the time came for the drunks to go their separate way. He also edited a daily reading of guided Oxford Group meditations that became the basis for the still popular Twenty-Four-Hours-a-Day book.
The Group attracted some of the cream of the intellectual crop from England and in the United States. Some of the better-known American members included Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ford, Mr. & Mrs. Harry Guggenheim, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Joe DiMaggio, Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Senator Harry Truman, General Pershing, the widow of Thomas Edison and to liven things up a bit, Mae West! Buchman liked to attract the wealthy and the powerful, believing they had the ability in turn to influence and attract still greater numbers of followers.
These folks along with Bill and Lois Wilson went to well-planned “houseparties” throughout the country. They shared their personal experience of change, the strength they drew from surrendering their lives to God, along with the hope their program brought to the world. But as the world drew ever closer to war, the hope for peace through moral and spiritual transformation was growing dim. As one by one the countries of the world began to re-arm, building warships and amassing great armies, Buchman decided that the world needed him and his movement more than ever. One day he felt inspired to change the name of his program to Moral Re-armament (MRA); but by then the drunks were quietly slipping out the back door and regrouping under the name of the book that outlined their simple program: Alcoholics Anonymous.