This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
The Serenity Prayer is an invocation by the petitioner for wisdom to understand the difference between circumstances ("things") that can and cannot be changed, asking courage to take action in the case of the former, and serenity to accept in the case of the latter.
The prayer has achieved very wide distribution, spreading through the YWCA and other groups in the 1930s, and in Alcoholics Anonymous and related organizational materials since at least 1941. Since at least the early 1960s, commercial enterprises such as Hallmark Cards have used the prayer in its greeting cards and gift items. The prayer has also made its way into popular culture, including in works by Bill Watterson, Neil Young, Bryan Lee O'Malley and Sinéad O'Connor, and programming including True Detective .
A version of the prayer was originally composed by Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the early 1930s. Initially popularized by one of his colleagues, the prayer began to spread widely without reference to the original author.
Around 1932, Niebuhr is reported to have first used the prayer as the last part of a longer prayer. [1] In an October 31, 1932 diary entry by American YWCA official Winnifred Wygal, she quotes her colleague Niebuhr:
The victorious man in the day of crisis is the man who has the serenity to accept what he cannot help and the courage to change what must be altered. [2]
Drawing on this, Wygal published a prayer in the March 1933 edition of YWCA periodical The Woman's Press, [3] which was soon shared with a broader audience on the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel of March 15, 1933. [4] [2] It read:
Oh, God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and insight to know the one from the other. [4]
The prayer was also quoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch later that month. [5] Substantial quotes from the prayer were also printed in two Atlanta newspapers that month. [6] [7]
The prayer appeared a few additional times in American and Canadian newspapers in the 1930s, associated with the YWCA or with individual women. In 1937, the prayer was published in a Christian student newsletter, attributing it to Niebuhr. [8]
Wygal published the prayer again in her 1940 book We Plan Our Own Worship Services, and attributed it to Niebuhr. [9] It took this form:
O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other. [9]
The prayer became published in English language newspapers much more from 1940, but never attributed to Wygal or Niebuhr.
In June 1941, the prayer was published in an obituary in the New York Herald Tribune , and from here became known by the first Alcoholics Anonymous group. The organisation embraced it and spread it widely. [1] It was initially known within the group as "The AA prayer", but by the late 1940s, was known as "the serenity prayer." [1] [10]
Niebuhr presented it in a 1943 sermon at Heath Evangelical Union Church in Heath, Massachusetts. [11] [2] Niebuhr's wife and daughter would later say this was when they understood the prayer was first written and used. [12] It then also appeared in a sermon of Niebuhr's in the 1944 ABook of Prayers and Services for the Armed Forces, [2] and was printed on cards for American soldiers in WWII. [13] [14] From January 1944, Niebuhr began being cited as the source of the prayer in newspaper articles.
Niebuhr also published it in a magazine column in 1951. [2] [15] By this stage, the prayer had become commonly quoted as:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. [16]
In 1962, Hallmark began using the prayer in its graduation cards, crediting Niebuhr, [15] and in the 1970s they also produced a wall plaque.[ citation needed ] Posters and household ornaments were produced by others without attribution.[ citation needed ]
Rhetorician William FitzGerald believes Wygal wrote the prayer, arguing sexism as the reason for misattribution. [17] Quotation researcher Fred Shapiro has alternated in his conclusions over time. [16] In 2021's The New Yale Book of Quotations, and in his discussion of it, says Wygal "was the author of the earliest known occurrence". [18] [19]
The prayer has appeared in many versions. Reinhold Niebuhr's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single prose sentence; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse modify the author's original version.[ citation needed ] The best-known form is a late version,[ according to whom? ] as it includes a reference to grace not found before 1951:[ citation needed ]
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.[ This quote needs a citation ]
The following clauses were added in the AA Origin of the Serenity Prayer: A Historic Paper [20] but were not part of the tripartite original. Niebuhr's daughter in her book The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Time of Peace and War said: "... their message and their tone are not in any way Niebuhrian." [21] : 293
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a 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.
A version, apparently quoted from memory and asking for the author of the quotation, appeared in the "Queries and Answers" column in The New York Times Book Review in July 1950, [22] [ full citation needed ] and received a reply in the same column in August 1950, attributing the prayer to Niebuhr, and quoting it as follows:
O God and Heavenly Father,
Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. [23] [ full citation needed ]
Today, twelve-step recovery programs generally use a slightly different version, the text of which has been adopted in official publications from groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous [24] :
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. [25]
This section possibly contains original research .(May 2023) |
1st-century Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote:
Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us [eph' hêmin] and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions—in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing." [26] [ non-primary source needed ]
The 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar Shantideva of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara suggested:
If there's a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for dejection?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is there in being glum? [27] [ non-primary source needed ]
The 11th-century Jewish philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol wrote:
And they said: At the head of all understanding – is distinguishing between what is and what cannot be, and the consoling of what is not in our power to change. [28] [ full citation needed ][ non-primary source needed ]
A Mother Goose rhyme (dating back to at least 1827 [29] ) has been juxtaposed with Niebuhr's prayer by philosopher W. W. Bartley:
For every ailment under the sun
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try to find it;
If there be none, never mind it. [30]
In 1801, German philosopher Friedrich Schiller wrote:
Blessed is he, who has learned to bear what he cannot change, and to give up with dignity, what he cannot save." [31] [ non-primary source needed ]
The prayer has been variously attributed (without evidence) to Thomas Aquinas, Cicero, Augustine, Boethius, Marcus Aurelius, [32] and Francis of Assisi, [33] [ better source needed ] among others.[ citation needed ]
Theodor Wilhelm, a professor of education at the University of Kiel, published a German version of the prayer under the pseudonym "Friedrich Oetinger" in 1951. [34] Wilhelm's version of the prayer became popular in West Germany, where it was widely but falsely attributed to the 18th-century philosopher Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. Elisabeth Sifton described Wilhelm's account of the history of the prayer as "dishonest". [21] : 343
The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member, [35] who came upon it in a caption in a "routine New York Herald Tribune obituary". [36] The original clipping appeared in the May 28, 1941, public notices section: "Mother--God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Goodby." [37] AA's co-founder Bill W. and the staff liked the prayer and had it printed in modified form and handed around. It has been part of Alcoholics Anonymous ever since, and has also been used in other twelve-step programs. "Never had we seen so much A.A. in so few words," noted Bill W. [38] The January 1950 edition of the Grapevine (The International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous) identifies Niebuhr as the author, [10] as does the AA web site. [39]
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led mutual-aid fellowship dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions stress anonymity and the lack of a governing hierarchy, and establish AA as free to all, non-promotional, non-professional, unaffiliated, non-denominational, and apolitical. In 2021, AA reported a presence in approximately 180 countries with nearly two million members—73% in the United States and Canada.
Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.".
Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. First settled in the 1830s, it is the only town in the U.S. that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. Lincoln is home to two prisons. It is also the home of the world's largest covered wagon and numerous other historical sites along the Route 66 corridor.
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America's leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A public theologian, he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy, with his most influential books including Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Nature and Destiny of Man.
Narcotics Anonymous (NA), founded in 1953, describes itself as a "nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem." Narcotics Anonymous uses a 12-step model developed for people with varied substance use disorders and is the second-largest 12-step organization, after 12-step pioneer Alcoholics Anonymous.
You can't have your cake and eat it (too) is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech. The proverb literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain possession of a cake and eat it, too". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot have two incompatible things, or that one should not try to have more than is reasonable. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds."
The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the traditions. They were originally written by Bill Wilson after the founding of the first twelve-step group, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich taught at German universities before immigrating to the United States in 1933, where he taught at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA), founded in 1979, is one of several twelve-step programs for compulsive sexual behavior, based on the original twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. SA is part of a group of twelve-step organization addressing sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous(SAA), Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous(SLAA), Sexual Compulsives Anonymous(SCA) and Sexual Recovery Anonymous(SRA). Collectively, these groups are known as "S" groups due to their acronyms Starting with "S": SA, SAA, SLAA, SCA, and SRA.
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. He also believed that the solution to living without fear and selfishness was to "surrender one's life over to God's plan". It featured surrender to Jesus Christ by sharing with others how lives had been changed in the pursuit of four moral absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.
Stanley Martin Hauerwas is an American Protestant theologian, ethicist, and public intellectual. Hauerwas originally taught at the University of Notre Dame before moving to Duke University. Hauerwas was a longtime professor at Duke, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law. In the fall of 2014, he also assumed a chair in theological ethics at the University of Aberdeen. Hauerwas is considered by many to be one of the world's most influential living theologians and was named "America's Best Theologian" by Time magazine in 2001. He was also the first American theologian to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in over forty years. His work is frequently read and debated by scholars in fields outside of religion or ethics, such as political philosophy, sociology, history, and literary theory. Hauerwas has achieved notability outside of academia as a public intellectual, even appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
"Know thyself" is a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi. The best-known of the Delphic maxims, it has been quoted and analyzed by numerous authors throughout history, and has been applied in many ways. Although traditionally attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece, or to the god Apollo himself, the inscription likely had its origin in a popular proverb.
Epinomis is the final dialogue in the Platonic corpus, a follow-on conversation among the interlocutors of Laws – a twelve-book exploration of the best way to structure a polis. The participants in the conversation were Clinias of Crete, Megillus of Sparta, and an unnamed Athenian. In Epinomis they reconvene to address an issue not covered in the earlier discussion: how one acquires wisdom.
The common law of business balance, often expressed as "you get what you pay for", is the principle that one cannot pay a little and get a lot. That is, paying a cheap price will not guarantee the buyer will receive a product of high quality value. In other words, a low price of a good may indicate that the producer compromised quality.
George Sherwood Eddy (1871–1963) was a leading American Protestant missionary, administrator and educator. He was a prolific author and indefatigable traveler. His main achievement was to link and finance networks of intellectuals across the globe, especially Christian leaders in Asia and the Middle East. He enabled missionaries to better understand and even think like the people they were serving. His long-term impact on the Protestant communities in the United States, and in the Third World, was long lasting. From the 1930s onwards, he became a Christian socialist.
Nigel Rees is an English writer and broadcaster, known for devising and hosting the Radio 4 panel game Quote... Unquote (1976–2021) and as the author of more than fifty books, mostly works of reference on language, and humour in language.
Treatise on the Gods (1930) is H. L. Mencken's survey of the history and philosophy of religion, and was intended as an unofficial companion volume to his Treatise on Right and Wrong (1934). The first and second printings were sold out before publication, and eight more printings followed. Its first edition received a major 5-column review in The New York Times, written by P.W. Wilson, and the Marxist literary critic Granville Hicks called it "the best popular account we have of the origin and nature of religion." However, the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, claimed, "It is only in dealing with moral and social issues that [Mencken] achieves the heights of complete detachment, and in this case the detachment is that of a cynic rather than that of a scientist." By the end of its first year, Treatise had sold thirteen thousand copies. By 1940 its popularity had waned, and although it went temporarily out of print in 1945, Mencken considered it "my best book, and by far." At the request of its original publisher Alfred A Knopf, Mencken wrote a revised edition (1946); among other changes, it eliminated a controversial quote about Jews:
Ralph Keyes is an American author. His 16 books include Is There Life After High School?, The Courage to Write, and The Post-Truth Era. That 2004 book illustrated Keyes’s anticipation of social trends in his writing.
Jewish Alcoholics, Chemical Dependents and Significant Others(JACS) was "founded in 1979 by the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies."
Winnifred Crane Wygal was an American theologian, writer, and YWCA national staff member from 1919 to 1944.
I discovered eight instances of the prayer's being printed in newspapers and books between January 1936 and April 1942 — none of which mentioned Niebuhr — I concluded that he appeared to have drawn unconsciously on earlier versions of unknown authorship. / The year after the Times story, Stephen Goranson of the Duke University Library posted a message on the American Dialect Society's Internet discussion list stating that he had found an occurrence of the Serenity Prayer in a 1937 Christian student newsletter, which referred to 'the prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr.' / I quickly contacted the Times editors and alerted them that, in my view, Goranson's discovery had significantly increased the likelihood that Niebuhr was, indeed, the original author. The Times then published a second front-page story reporting my reaction to the new information. / By searching Newspapers.com, I found that the Santa Cruz Sentinel of March 15, 1933, quoted Winnifred Crane Wygal: 'Oh, God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and insight to know the one from the other.' / The newspaper gave as its source an article by Wygal in The Woman's Press, a publication of the National Board of the YWCA. I was able to verify that article, 'On the Edge of Tomorrow,' in The Woman's Press of March 1933. The wording there was the same as in the Sentinel: It appeared as an epigraph and Reinhold Niebuhr was discussed, but no connection was made between the prayer and Niebuhr. / Although she did not link up prayer and theologian in her article, Wygal was clearly associated with Niebuhr. A biographical note about her from the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard states that Wygal did postgraduate work at Union Theological Seminary, studying there with Niebuhr and Paul Tillich. / Wygal [made] the crucial connection in her 1940 book, 'We Plan Our Own Worship Services.' On Page 25 she wrote, '"O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other." (Reinhold Niebuhr).' / That attribution by Wygal might in and of itself be viewed as the final confirmation of Niebuhr's coinage. There is an even stronger confirmation, however, located at the Schlesinger Library in its 14 volumes of Wygal's diaries, which, at my request, the library generously assigned a staff member to skim, looking for references to the Serenity Prayer. / Schlesinger's staffer, Sarah Guzy, struck gold when she read Wygal's diary entry for Oct. 31, 1932. / Wygal wrote there: 'R.N. says that "moral will plus imagination are the two elements of which faith is compounded." [and] "The victorious man in the day of crisis is the man who has the serenity to accept what he cannot help and the courage to change what must be altered."' / The second of those Niebuhr quotations does not fully match the components of the tripartite Serenity Prayer, lacking the 'wisdom' or 'insight' element, but definitely does include the elements involving 'serenity' and 'courage.' / The 1932 partial Serenity Prayer is the data point that clinches the argument for 'R.N.' (Reinhold Niebuhr) as Wygal's source for the prayer and as its originator. / ... Fred Shapiro is an associate library director and lecturer in legal research at Yale Law School and editor of 'The Yale Book of Quotations' from Yale University Press. This is an abridged version of an article that appeared in the April 28 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Serenity Prayer (Origin is debated)... This is the famous "Serenity Prayer", and it has a very complex and rich origin story. It's usually attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr... I've done a lot of research on this prayer, and almost 20 years have been studying this. If you search newspaper indexes... it was used as far back as 1933. The earliest record we have of someone using it was a woman named Winifred Wygal, an official of the YWCA, wrote the Serenity Prayer, we believe... And this is actually a pattern that I found in preparing my book, that there are many famous quotes by obscure women that are attributed to famous men... and this I think is the most interesting example of that...
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link)Wohl dem Menschen, wenn er gelernt hat, zu ertragen, was er nicht ändern kann, und preiszugeben mit Würde, was er nicht retten kann.