The comment about Howard Walter's "Soul Surgery" warrants mention of these
points: (1) In a very real sense, this was the very first "Oxford Group"
publication. It was published in India. The date was 1919. I believe
Walter's parents funded it. And it was a collaborative effort by Frank
Buchman, Buchman's mentor Professor Henry Wright, and Walter. (2) The
importance of the book is that it contains the heart of the middle step
materials taken by Bill Wilson from the teachings of Sam Shoemaker who, of
course, wrote on these matters in his books beginning in 1921. (3)The book
is focused on "personal work" and details the Five C's of the Oxford
Group--Confidence, Confession, Conviction, Conversion, and Continuance. (4)
Buchman is reported by Begbie, I believe, to have given these names to the
concepts on an ocean voyage. (5) If you read as many of the Oxford
Group/Shoemaker books as I have, you see these five mentioned in one way or
another quite often. The Confidence idea pertains particularly to the
initial "contact" in the life changing program where stories are exchanged
in confidence. It next crops up in the 4th and 5th Step ideas of Confession
(Inventory/Confession). Conviction is the one that got lost in the shuffle,
though it is mentioned in Anne Smith's Journal, in Lois Wilson's writings,
and in many Oxford Group writings. "Conviction" is a Biblical idea; and the
sequence seems to go like this: Stories are exchanged in CONFIDENCE. The
newcomer makes an inventory of the items in the Four Absolutes where he has
fallen short of Christ's "standards." The 4 item inventory is shared
(sharing for confession) as a CONFESSION (derived largely from the
oft-quoted language of James 5:16). Having bared himself, the newcomer is
then to become CONVICTED or convinced that he has this particular
shortcoming that needs to be eliminated as part of the Oxford Group
life-changing process of eliminating sin. The CONVICTION idea was picked up
by Wilson in his 6th Step although this sorry step seems to have been little
understood or phrased by Wilson and is as much misunderstood today as it was
by Wilson. Biblically it has strong roots. Then comes the cleansing process
CONVERSION. Sadly, Bill mixed up this idea in Steps Three and Seven and gave
us two prayers instead of one. The original CONVERSION as explained by
Oxford Group writers, Shoemaker, and Anne Smith was the process that William
James called "self-surrender" - the "Turning Point." As Shoemaker and others
wrote, man's job is to throw himself on the mercy of God by a decision "to
cast my will and my life on God" and often saying "Thy will be done." The
rest is God's part where there is a transformation (called salvation or
rebirth or giving one's life Christ). The biggie, encompassed in Steps 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, was CONTINUANCE. And the idea of "continuing" to change, to
grow, to make amends, to correct new harms as they come along, to fellowship
with God, to witness, and to "practice the principles" of the commandments,
the sermon on the mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 became the essence of the
"continuing" process with Bill even using phrases like "Continued to take
personal inventory......" And because Bill shifted from the simple Akron
program which came largely from Christian Endeavor and the ideas of the
Salvation Army and Missions to the points he picked up from Shoemaker as
they framed the Big Book and Step ideas, the importance of "Soul Surgery" is
mostly lost. There is good news for those who want it. This hard-to-get
title has been reprinted, I believe; and once my Oxford Group book came out,
there was a stampede to get it so that many today have a copy of Walter's
"Soul Surgery." For details, see my titles, The Oxford Group and Alcoholics
Anonymous, New Light on Alcoholism, Anne Smith's Journal, and Twelve Steps
for You. God Bless, Dick B.
Richard G. Burns (Dick B.)
Post Office Box 837
Kihei, Maui, HI 96753-0837
(808) 874-4876
[log in to unmask]
URLs:
http://dickb.com/index.shtml
http://dickb-blog.com
http://aa-history.com
http://freedomranchmaui.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of David Trippel
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 8:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Quakers and temperance
This reminds me that a very expensive and hard to find book "Soul
Surgery" by Howard A Walter, 1920 edition, that influenced the AA
program via Frank Buchman and his Oxford Group has just been added to
Ken Ragge's website at http://www.morerevealed.com/books/surgery/
surgeryfront.jsp
Dave
On Mar 5, 2007, at 7:54 PM, Dick B. wrote:
> For those who had the pleasure of viewing the new movie Amazing
> Grace, you
> might find my friend and noted British writer Garth D. Lean's
> "Brave Men
> Choose." It shows the activity of William Wilberforce in
> elimination of the
> slave trade and also in other betterment activities. Reference is
> made to
> the Quaker activity. Just a thought. I really didn't know that
> Wilberforce
> was such an important historical figure, nor that he played such a
> role in
> elimination of slavery itself as well as the slave trade, nor that he
> observed the practice of spending two hours or so each morning with
> God and
> journaling his questions and the answers he received. A precursor I
> suppose,
> not only to the quiet waiting, but also to the Quiet Hour practices of
> United Christian Endeavor, the Morning Watch practices of the YMCA,
> the
> articles by the Congregational leader F.B. Meyer on the subject of
> Quiet
> Time, and then the great influence of all these on the original
> A.A. program
> - especially the quiet times spent in the morning with Anne Ripley
> Smith at
> the Smith home where there was prayer, Bible reading, seeking of
> guidance,
> discussion of the points, and group prayer. Every morning! Dick B.
>
> Richard G. Burns (Dick B.)
> Post Office Box 837
> Kihei, Maui, HI 96753-0837
> (808) 874-4876
> [log in to unmask]
> URLs:
> http://dickb.com/index.shtml
> http://dickb-blog.com
> http://aa-history.com
> http://freedomranchmaui.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of David Fahey
> Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 10:58 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Quakers and temperance
>
> Any suggestions about historical articles or books that focus on
> Quakers in the Anglo-American temperance movement?
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