![]() The search for pinpointing origins of the prayer has been like the peeling of an onion. What are probably truly ancient, as with the above quote from Cicero, are the prayer’s themes of acceptance, courage to change what can be changed and the free letting go of what is out of one’s ability to change. ![]() No one has actually found the prayer’s text among the writings of these alleged, original sources. member came across the Roman philosopher Cicero’s Six Mistakes of Man, one of which reads: “The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.” ” Other attributions have gone as far afield as ancient Sanskrit texts, Aristotle, St. “Some say it came from the early Greeks others think it was from the pen of an anonymous English poet still others claim it was written by an American Naval officer…. “No one can tell for sure who first wrote the Serenity Prayer,” writes Bill in A.A. Niebuhr was quite accurate in suggesting that the prayer may have been “spooking around” for centuries. By then it had also been reprinted by the National Council of Churches, as well as Alcoholics Anonymous.ĭr. Niebuhr’s permission, the prayer was printed on cards and distributed to the troops by the U.S.O. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself.”Įarly in World War II, with Dr. Niebuhr added at least a touch of doubt to his claim, when he told one interviewer, “Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don’t think so. Rheinhold Niebuhr, who recounted to interviewers on several occasions that he had written the prayer as a “tag line” to a sermon he had delivered on Practical Christianity. What is undisputed is the claim of authorship by the theologian Dr. Moreover, every time a researcher appears to uncover the definitive source, another one crops up to refute the former’s claim, at the same time that it raises new, intriguing facts. ![]() Thus did the “accidental” noticing of an unattributed prayer, printed alongside a simple obituary of an unknown individual, open the way toward the prayer’s daily use by thousands upon thousands of A.A.s worldwide.īut despite years of research by numerous individuals, the exact origin of the prayer is shrouded in overlays of history, even mystery. “With amazing speed,” writes Bill, “the Serenity Prayer came into general use and took its place alongside our two other favorites, the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of St. so naturally, there could be no charge for anything of this nature.” Henry’s enthusiastic response was to print 500 copies of the prayer, with the remark: “Incidentally, I am only a heel when I’m drunk. member, and a professional printer, asking him what it would cost to order a bulk printing. ![]() Ruth Hock, the Fellowship’s first (and nonalcoholic) secretary, contacted Henry S., a Washington D.C. Someone suggested that the prayer be printed on a small, wallet-sized card, to be included in every piece of outgoing mail. Everyone in A.A.’s burgeoning office on Manhattan’s Vesey Street was struck by the power and wisdom contained in the prayer’s thoughts. ![]()
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