Where, then, did the Twelve Steps really come from?
Bill Wilson said many times in many ways that nobody invented AA He often added that everything in the program was borrowedfrom medicine, religion, and experience. Many years later, Bill Pittman put his finger on the button when he wrote AA The Way It Began. Pittman concluded (and he was correct) that the Twelve Step program came from Rev. Sam Shoemaker and from the Oxford Group writings. Over the years, Wilson himself began conceding this point but not detailing it. Remember, however, that there were no Steps in Calvary Church, in the Oxford Group, or in pioneer AA But, the major ideas were present in 1934. If you will read my title Turning Point, you will see that Ebby Thacher (Bills “sponsor”) passed along to Bill in much detail the basic ideas of the Twelve Steps. They came from Ebbys Oxford Group experience. Most do not know that, but you can see the traces in pages 12 to 15 of the Big Book. Then there is the matter of Reverend Sam Shoemaker, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in
