The Twelve Steps Of Alcoholics Anonymous?Who Wrote Them?
group of “teachers” from whom Bill learned his ideas at their Stewart’s Cafeteria meetings. See Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (NY: Harper & Row Publishers, Perennial Books, 1975), 226-32; Dick B. The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, New Rev. ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998), 128-30. And all of this occurred in 1934 and early 1935—long before Bill published the Big Book and Twelve Steps in 1939, and before Bill met Dr. Bob later in 1935.
The most complete and thorough discussion of what Rowland taught Ebby, what Rowland and Shep Cornell taught Ebby and Bill, and what Ebby taught Bill directly concerning the Twelve Step ideas taken from the Oxford Group’s program will be found fully discussed and documented in Dick B. Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 81-108.
These facts were made clear to Dick B. on his two research trips to Bill’s home at Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills, New York. There Dick found manuscripts where Bill described the actual steps and step materials later incorporated in the Big Book and how these were transmitted to him by Ebby Thacher. The dates were 1934! Also, some small glimpses of these materials can be found, even today, in Bill’s Story in Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, 8-11, 13-15. Again, the dates of Ebby’s visits with Bill were in late 1934.
Bill’s Interim “Step” Period Between 1934 and 1939
Bill, on his own, developed six “word of mouth” ideas, varied in form, and applied in different ways. And these word-of-mouth thoughts and expressions followed the Oxford Group ideas he had learned from Rowland Hazard, Shep Cornell, Ebby Thacher, and Rev. Sam Shoemaker. Bill said there was disagreement as to their wording and application; and Bill himself phrased them in at least four different ways. But, according to Bill, it was these six “word of mouth” ideas that Bill later expanded to the Twelve Steps as he wrote the famous Chapter Five “How It Works” in the Big Book manuscript. See Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 149-86.
So it Was Bill Wilson, and Bill Wilson Alone, Who Wrote the Twelve Steps in December, 1938
Recently, several anti-A.A. commentators have laid out historically inaccurate, conjectural, and totally erroneous ideas as to how Bill received some alleged spiritualist-like guidance as he penned the steps. But Bill was simply writing down ideas with which he had been thoroughly familiar in the Oxford Group and from his talks with Rev. Sam Shoemaker—from 1934 on.
The historical facts are simple. They are well-documented. And they show the long trail in Bill Wilson’s life that led from his tutors—Rowland Hazard, F. Shepard Cornell, and Ebby Thacher to him; from his extensive Oxford Group meeting attendance from1934 to August of 1937 when he and Lois left the Oxford Group (See Lois Remembers, 91-94); and from his long conferences with, and teachings by, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. concerning the step ideas themselves. These well-recorded sources led to Bill’s own incorporation in his Big Book of the Oxford Group ideas that were codified into his Twelve Steps just prior to publication of the Big Book in 1939. A.A.’s own ‘Pass It On,’ said this about the writing:
Bill was about to write the famous fifth chapter, ‘How It Works.’ The basic material for the chapter was the word-of-mouth program that Bill had been talking about ever since his own recovery. It was heavy with Oxford Group principles, and had in addition some of the ideas Bill had gleaned from William James and from Dr. Silkworth (page 197)
Bill’s first three steps were culled from his reading of James, the teachings of Sam
Shoemaker, and those of the Oxford Group (page 199)
The newly published biography of Lois Wilson underlines the Oxford Group source—one which we will call part of “the rest of the story.” See William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005):
Dr. Shoemaker was to play a significant role in Bill Wilson’s spiritual development and
his writing of Alcoholics Anonymous, which became known as “The Big Book,” p. 156.
These principles, which Bill developed into AA’s Twelve Steps to recovery for millions
of alcoholics around the world essentially incorporated and expanded upon the Oxford
Group’s ‘Four Absolutes’ of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, p. 239.
Borchert then lays out what he calls the “first draft of the Twelve Steps.”