Anne Ripley Smith (Dr. Bob's wife) and the Holy Spirit - Alcohol and Addictions Recovery Help/Support Forums

 

A few anti-A.A. Christians--folks who can be called psychoheretics--seem to have launched a well-financed series of comments that try to distance early A.A. from the Bible. One of the erroneous claims is to say that A.A. never mentioned the Holy Spirit - even in its beginning, pioneer days in Akron. Without making a case for or against making mention of the Holy Spirit, it is important to get the facts straight: There are plenty of Christian books that Dr. Bob and early AAs read about the Holy Spirit. And those by Oswald Chambers and E. Stanley Jones, as well as The Runner's Bible, are just a few. Rev. Sam Shoemaker, a co-founder of A.A., as well as many many Oxford Group writings (Sam being an American leader of the Oxford Group) discussed the Holy Spirit. And Sam's last major book had a title about With the Holy Spirit and With Fire. Soon, however, we will get down to cases: The cases being the actual teachings that Dr. Bob's wife, Anne Ripley Smith, conducted each morning at the Smith Home for AAs, their wives, families and kids. And she regularly shared from what I have called "Anne Smith's Journal 1933-1939" www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml. We will not cover the important teachings she shared on the Holy Spirit. Instead, we will soon be publishing a series of articles on some important ideas Anne taught early AAs. And the series will first be posted on our blog www.mauihistorian.blogspot.com. Stay tuned.