The Rev. Samuel Moor Shoemaker and Alcoholics Anonymous By Miguel A. Hernndez The Rev.

Samuel Moor Shoemaker was very involved in evangelism and in writing numerous books and articles during his ministry as an Episcopal Priest. Samuel M. Shoemaker is considered one of the most influential contributors in the formation of the spiritual recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a program that has had an overwhelming effect all over the world. Samuel Moor Shoemaker was born on December 27, 1893 in Baltimore and died on January 31, 1963 in the city of his birth. In the period of 1911 and 1912, he attended conferences at Northfield in Massachusetts where he heard evangelical Protestants leaders such as John R. Mott, Robert E. Speer and Sherwood Eddy speak of the need for evangelical work overseas. The evangelical message took hold of Samuel M. Shoemaker. After he graduated from Princeton University in 1916, Samuel M. Shoemaker answered his call by becoming a missionary with the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) in Peking, currently Beijing, China.1 For some time, Protestants had been making an inroad in China. Protestants believed that they could influence the future of China. From 1895 to 1914, most of the best schools and a majority of Western hospitals and medical schools were run by Protestant missionaries. In fact, the YMCA played an important role in shaping the hearts and minds of China's leadership.2 It was in this missionary effort that Samuel M. Shoemaker came to support in China. Samuel M. Shoemaker obtained advanced degrees from The General Theological Seminary and at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.3 He was ordained deacon in 1920 in his parish, Emmanuel Church, in Baltimore, and a year later he was ordained priest. By 1921 he became an assistant priest at Grace Church in New York City for a brief period. He later on, in 1925, became the rector of Calvary Episcopal
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David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 295. Robert B. Mullin, A Short World History of Christianity (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p 223. David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 295.

Church in New York City where he served for a long time.4 Calvary Episcopal Church5 still has its doors open in Manhattan, NYC. However, it is now part of The Parish of Calvary George's in The City of New York. The Parish History's web page of states that: The Reverend Dr. Samuel Moor Shoemaker served at Calvary for 28 years (1928-1952). Shoemakers role in the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is still remembered. As Bill Wilson wrote in AA Comes of Age, It is through Sam Shoemaker that most of A.A.s spiritual principles have come. Sam is one of the great channels, one of the prime sources of influences that have gathered themselves into what is now A.A.6 It was in China in 1918 that Samuel M. Shoemaker met a controversial American evangelist by the name of Frank Buchman.7 Frank Buchman became the founder and director, in 1921, of an organization named The Oxford Group later renamed in 1938 as the Moral Re-Armament (M.R.A.)8. Buchman had a profound influence on Samuel M. Shoemaker according to Dick B.9, a historian of Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, is quoted asserting that a Lutheran minister, Dr. Frank Buchman [who had] among his first converts Dr. Sam Shoemaker10 into the Oxford Group. It was during their first meeting that Frank Buchman introduced Samuel M. Shoemaker to the Four Absolutes.11 The Four Absolutes (Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, and Absolute Love) were probably derived by Professor Henry B. Wright of Yale University from a book written by Dr. Robert E. Speer entitled The Principles of Jesus. Speer calls for the

David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 295. in conjunction with St.

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Calvary Episcopal Church is located at 237 Park Avenue South in NYC providing limited services George's Episcopal Church.

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Taken from The Calvary Episcopal Church's web page http://www.calvarystgeorges.org/history. Pass It On (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 130. David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 295. Dick B. uses this name to protect his anonymity following the guidelines of AA's XI tradition: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. Pass It On (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 127. Dick B., Turning Point A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 47.

four standards his book: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.12 The Four Absolutes became a model for the goals of the Oxford Group, and they became the yardsticks by which early AAs took their moral inventory as well as the practice of their recovery program.13 It is probable that Samuel M. Shoemaker was going through a spiritual crisis, and he consulted this matter with Frank Buchman. As a result of this, Frank Buchman suggested Shoemaker to take an inventory of his life, measuring it against said Four Absolutes. Samuel M. Shoemaker proceeded to follow the suggestion. Shoemaker knew that he had to surrender.14 By the time Samuel M. Shoemaker became exposed to the problem of alcoholism in society and in his community, in particular, he was well prepared to guide spiritually and morally a group of people who were working on the formulation and formation of an organization that later would be known worldwide as Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). As asserted by Bill Wilson, co-founder of the organization, Shoemaker contributed most of the principles contained in the Twelve Steps. This Philosophy was shaped in part by Shoemakers reading of William James The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), with its discussion of self-surrender to a 'higher power'. 15 In the book How to become a Christian, Samuel M. Shoemaker asserts that: One of the simplest and best rules for self-examination that I know is to use the Four Standards, which Dr. Robert E. Speer said represented the summary of the Sermon on the Mount Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, and Absolute Love.16 It is evident that for Samuel M. Shoemaker the practice of the Four Absolutes was something that he believed in so strongly that he recommended them to others to follow in order that they might find a path towards living a life in righteousness. In addition to the Four Absolutes, Samuel M. Shoemaker influenced Bill Wilson into practicing a life of prayer.
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Dick B., Turning Point A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 43-45. Dick B., Turning Point A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 45. Dick B., Turning Point A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael: Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 47. David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 296. Samuel M. Shoemaker, How to become a Christian. (New York, NY: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1953), 57.

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Robert Thomsen author of Bill W. states that Perhaps the most important contribution Sam Shoemaker made to Bill's life was in giving him a new interpretation of prayer.17 According to Thomsen, Bill Wilson came to believe that prayer was more than making a list of personal needs, desires, and an attempt to influence God. For Bill Wilson prayer became a method for discovering God's will. As a result of this, Bill Wilson believed that prayer was not just talking to God, but in listening to God as well.18 From reading the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous19 one can find that the influence of Samuel M. Shoemaker is present in them. The spiritual practice of the 12step program calls for confessing one's wrongs and to admit them to God an to another person. For example, Step 4 states that we Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, and Step 5 states that we Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. In terms of Prayer, Step 11 states that we Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Evangelism was at the heart of Samuel M. Shoemaker, and it is still making inroads in the world in a quiet way as people practice the 12 steps of A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous has reached around the world more than 180 nations worldwide, with membership estimated at over two million. There are more than 116,000 A.A. groups around the world.20 Thus, the message of Samuel M. Shoemaker is still being being passed on to others.

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Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (Center City, MN: Hazelden Press, 1999), 206. Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (Center City, MN: Hazelden Press, 1999), 206. Taken from http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/smf-121_en.pdf

Taken from an article on the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/f-165_aaaroundtheworld_fall10.pdf

BIBLIOGRAPHY B. Dick, Turning Point A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes. San Rafael, California: Paradise Research Publications, 1997. Hein, David and Shattuck Gardiner H. Jr. The Episcopalians. West Port, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Shoemaker, Samuel M., How to become a Christian. New York, NY: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1953. Shoemaker, Samuel M., Recapturing the Lost Radiance, New York, NY: The Christian century, 1952. Retrieved from the American Theological Library Association at The General Theological Seminary. Shoemaker, Samuel M., Personal Evangelism, New York, NY: Church Congress Syllabus 47. Retrieved from the American Theological Library Association at The General Theological Seminary. The Changing face of Christianity, ed. Lamin Sanneh and Joel A. Carpenter. Oxford University Press, 2005. Robert Thomsen, Bill W. Center City, MN: Hazelden Press, 1999.