Yale book credits author of AA prayer (Serenity Prayer)

New Haven Register ^ | 11-29-2009 | Mary E. O'Leary

[raybbr]

NEW HAVEN — Reinhold Niebuhr, the famed Protestant theologian, will be credited with writing the Serenity Prayer in the next edition of the Yale Book of Quotations.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference,” is the prayer that is ubiquitous with Alcoholics Anonymous, which uses it as part of its 12-step recovery program.

Fred Shapiro, an associate librarian and lecturer at Yale Law School and editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, last year questioned the authorship of the prayer, based on the recollection of Niebuhr’s family that he had written it in 1943.

Shapiro in his research had found references to the prayer going back as early as 1936 and he wrote an article last year in the Yale Alumni Magazine expressing doubt as to the long-held connection to Niebuhr. None of the early references had named the writer.

Now another librarian, Stephen Goranson, who works at Duke University, has discovered a Christian student newsletter written in 1937 that attributes the prayer to Niebuhr. Shapiro has agreed to give credit to the theologian in his updated Yale Book of Quotations, unless other contradictions are unearthed.

[SouthDixie]

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living One day At A Time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship
as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as he did, this sinful
world as it is, not as I would
have it;

Trusting that he will make all
things right if I surrender
to his will;

That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with him forever
in the next.

Amen

[raybbr]

AA Ping

[SunkenCiv]

Fred Shapiro, an associate librarian and lecturer at Yale Law School and editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, last year questioned the authorship of the prayer, based on the recollection of Niebuhr's family that he had written it in 1943. Shapiro in his research had found references to the prayer going back as early as 1936 and he wrote an article last year in the Yale Alumni Magazine expressing doubt as to the long-held connection to Niebuhr. None of the early references had named the writer. Now another librarian, Stephen Goranson, who works at Duke University, has discovered a Christian student newsletter written in 1937 that attributes the prayer to Niebuhr. Shapiro has agreed to give credit to the theologian in his updated Yale Book of Quotations, unless other contradictions are unearthed.

I'm sure this was all about getting the YBQ as accurate as possible.

[left that other site]

I have heard the beginning of that, but not the whole thing. It’s really lovely.