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The James Club and The Original A.A. Program's Absolute Essentials
The James Club and The Original AA Program's Absolute Essentials Author:Dick B. The original A.A. program, the fellowship that was founded in Akron on June 10, 1935 was called a Christian Fellowship; and many members favored calling the society The James Club because the Book of James in the Bible was so frequently studied, quoted, and read at meetings. This is the story. The title contains an Introduction and three majo... more »r parts - The Book of James; Jesus's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7); and 1 Corinthians 13. These three parts of the Bible were considered by Dr. Bob and the old timers to be "absolutely essential" to their program. They felt the answer to their problems was in the "Good Book" (as they called the Bible), This title does a verse by verse review of each of the three parts showing exactly what ideas were studied by AAs and how those parts contributed to the program. There are five appendices: The first describes the original Akron program in detail. The second shows the complete difference between the early Akron program and the later program that Bill Wilson fashioned in his Big Book in 1939. The third provides immense detail on the United Christian Endeavor Society to which Dr. Bob belonged as a youngster and whose ideas and practices seemed to form the heart of the simple Akron program as it was reported to John D. Rockfeller, Jr. by A.A. trustee-to-be Frank Amos. The fourth is a review of the Bible's Book of James, its author, canonical history, and date. The final suggests the importance of identifying the personal name of the Creator - Yahweh - in today's confused recovery arena with all kinds of "gods" ranging from a radiator to the Big Dipper. This is the first time The James Club and all it involved has been placed under the historical miscroscope by A.A.'s leading scholar and unofficial historian Dick B. It brings to light the reasons why Dr. Bob said so often that A.A. took its basic ideas from the study of the Good Book.« less