Influences on the Construction of the Serenity Prayer - Maybe OT

[Alison Murie]

On Oct 30, 2009, at 8:14 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Influences on the Construction of the Serenity
> Prayer - Maybe
>             OT
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>
> Garson,
>
> This is a nice discovery.  There is nothing I would like more than
> to find precursors of the Serenity Prayer prior to 1936.  I do have
> to say, however, that I see the courage and the serenity in this
> 1897 citation, but not really the wisdom.  In the SP, the wisdom is
> the wisdom to differentiate what can be done from what cannot be
> done.  Here the wisdom is the wisdom to discern God's truth,
> probably meant as a preliminary to taking action in furtherance of
> that truth.  "Wisdom" is arguably the most original element of the
> triad in the SP, the one that most makes it a novel, 20th-century
> formulation.  There are probably many pre-SP statements that contain
> the elements of courage and serenity.
>
> I strongly encourage you to continue looking for pre-1936 SP
> versions, or post-1936 versions that shed some light on the prayer's
> origins.
>
> Fred Shapiro
~~~~~~~~~~
  ( Warning: decidedly off-track, and political, to boot.)
As  Fred says,'"Wisdom" is arguably the most original element of the
triad in the SP, the one that most makes it a novel, 20th-century
formulation. ' A great gift to the mugwumps of the current congress,
giving Baucus,e.g., cover for not undertaking a fight.
AM

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