New First Use of "Serenity Prayer"

[Stephen Goranson]

For another at least partially-relevant attribution to Niebuhr in 1934 it may be worth repeating a post Garson made here Friday, November 20, 2009 3:18 PM:

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The phrase "accept what cannot be altered, with patience" is in a
prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr in a 1934 book that I have
found. The word patience is occasionally substituted for serenity in
variants of the Serenity Prayer; hence, this might be viewed as a
fragment of that prayer. It is true that the phrase expresses a common
theme in religious thought. Perhaps the attachment to Niebuhr in this
time frame makes the citation interesting.

Access to the book, "Prayers for Services", that contains the
quotation is sharply restricted on Google Books. I was not even able
to extract snippets. I hope that this post reduces the aggravation of
any other researchers that have located this text while searching via
Google Books.

Here is an excerpt: For those who have been worsted in the battles of
life,  whether by the inhumanity of their fellows, their own
limitations or the fickleness of fortune, that they may contend
against injustice without bitterness, overcome their own weaknesses
with diligence and learn how to accept what cannot be altered, with
patience;

http://www.archive.org/stream/prayersforservic028564mbp#page/n167/mode/2up/search/altered
"Prayers For Services: A Manual for Leaders of Worship", Morgan Phelps
Noyes, page 145, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934.

The text is rather long-winded when compared to the terseness of the
Serenity Prayer.

Garson
****

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 5:19 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] New First Use of "Serenity Prayer"

Garson,

Thanks.  The first item is of interest as one of the earliest known attributions to Niebuhr.  The second one is of some interest, although I believe the essence of the Serenity Prayer is the tripartite formulation (courage to change, serenity to accept, wisdom to know the difference) and the 1933 snippet has only the first two elements.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 3:44 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: New First Use of "Serenity Prayer"

Wonderful discoveries, Fred!

Has the GB cite below already been checked on paper? It might be worth
examining. I cannot remember the complete complicated status of
research in this topic area.

Title: Proceedings of the national convention: Railway Post Office
Author: National Postal Transport Association (U.S.)
Year: GB date 1937 but probes show 1937 through 1939
(Google Books unverified)

http://books.google.com/books?id=AU9ZAAAAYAAJ&q=NIebuhr#search_anchor

[Begin extracted text]
I sincerely hope we do have a most successful convention, and in the
words of Reinhold Niebuhr I would like to leave this little prayer of
a thought: "May you have the serenity to accept what cannot be
changed, May you have the courage to change what can be changed, And
may you have the wisdom to know one from the other.
[End extracted text]

The fragment below in 1933 (apparently) might be of interest.

Title: The Charioteer
Author: Charles Hanford Henderson
Year: GB date 1933
(Google Books unverified)

[Begin snippet text]
One who seeks perfection must learn to regard his Body in a tolerant,
good-natured, natural-history spirit, resolved to accept what cannot
be changed, and to change what can and ought to be changed.
[End snippet text]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 7:10 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: New First Use of "Serenity Prayer"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thank you Fred! I am still inclined to think Niebuhr's authorship likely (even if his memory years later was imperfect), in part, because this sounds like his writing (and no other plausible candidate has been presented).
>
> This 1933 find adds confirmation that the later-called Serenity Prayer actually, early on, mentioned courage before serenity.
>
> This 1933 find adds confirmation that June Purcell Guild was likely quoting from the prayer in 1934 Sewanee Review 42 no. 3 (1934) 398: "North or South, not all have 'serenity to accept what cannot be helped.'"
>
> It may be worth mentioning that Ms Guild was a social worker, and resided in Richmond VA, so may have been in the 1933 YWCA audience.
>
> Stephen Goranson
> www.duke.edu/~goranson
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:04 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] New First Use of "Serenity Prayer"
>
> I don't have time now to type a complete and fully thought-out posting, but I wanted to record that, by searching Genealogy Bank, I have pushed back the "Serenity Prayer" another three years.  In the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Mar. 21, 1933, Mrs. Harrie R. Chamberlin, national president of the Y.W.C.A., is quoted as follows:
>
> "In conclusion, she quoted the prayer which she said expressed the whole aim of the Y. W. C. A.: 'O God, give us courage to change the things that must be altered; serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and insight to know the one from the other.'"
>
> Interestingly, the same newspaper four days later quotes Mrs. Lenore Stone Meffley speaking to the Family Service Society's annual meeting:
>
> "courage to change what should be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be altered and insight to know the one from the other"
>
> Those familiar with the Serenity Prayer origin controversy will realize that these discoveries do not by any means disprove Reinhold Niebuhr's origination of the S.P., as Niebuhr could well have written it before 1933.  I do think, however, that the further back in time I push documentation of the prayer without reference to Niebuhr, the less probable the widely accepted account of Niebuhr's coinage becomes.  The New York Times will not be interested in writing a third account of the controversy, I am sure, but I will probably write this up in the Yale Alumni Magazine.
>
> Fred Shapiro
> Editor
> YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
>
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