A New Book from Ward Ewing ‘67

The Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, Class of 1967 and former Dean and President at General Seminary, has a new book: Twelve Steps to Religionless Spirituality: The Power of Spirituality with or without God from Cascade Books, a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Drawing on over forty years involvement with the Alcoholics Anonymous program as a non-alcoholic, Ewing examines how the Twelve Steps provide a spiritual program dramatically distinct from religion and how it can be relevant and transformative outside the recovery community today.  

Twelve Step spirituality is based on experience, not doctrine; it is pragmatic, focusing on what works and not on theory; it is centered in a community that is inclusive, welcoming all who desire to stop drinking; it seeks rigorous honesty even when that honesty involves painful questioning; and it centers upon service to the still suffering alcoholic. The power found in working the Steps is transformational, moving participants from despair to hope, from self-focused resentment to concern for others, and from angry efforts to control to gratitude for gifts received. It works for atheists and agnostics, secularists and free thinkers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other faiths.

The Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing '67

At a time when more and more people identify themselves as spiritual but not religious and the traditional religious institutions are in decline in Western culture, Twelve Step spirituality provides insights that can assist in the renewal and reinvigoration of our churches, synagogues, and mosques. In our time of dramatic social polarization, it can provide a foundation for bridging differences.

Ewing retired as the Dean and President of General in 2010 after twelve years of service here and thirty-one years as a pastor in congregations. When he came to General there were no courses on the Church’s role in intervention and recovery. With the Rev. Dr. Stuart Hoke (STM 1996, Th.D. 2000) two pioneering recovery-related courses were introduced to the GTS curriculum, which Hoke has continued to teach in schools and parishes across the wider church.

In 2004 Ewing was elected to serve as a Trustee on the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous for US and Canada, and in 2009 elected to serve as Chair of the Board. He is also the author of Job: A Vision of God, The Power of the Lamb: Revelation’s Theology of Liberation for You, and with the Rev. Peter Keese, Class of 1961, of Jesus Has Left the Building. He has published three programs in adult education through the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

Twelve Steps to Religionless Spirituality: The Power of Spirituality with or without God is available from Wipf and Stock and on Amazon.