The Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s or early 1940s. Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was a Protestant theologian best known for his study of the task of relating the Christian faith to the reality of modern politics and diplomacy. ...

History and text

Original version by Reinhold Niebuhr

Niebuhr seems to have written the prayer for use in a sermon, perhaps as early as 1934 (the date given in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edn., ed. Justin Kaplan, 1992, p. 684), perhaps in the early 1940s.

Elisabeth Sifton's book The Serenity Prayer (2003) quotes this version as the authentic original:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Reinhold Niebuhr recalled that his prayer was circulated by the Federal Council of Churches and later by the United States armed forces.[1]

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.

The earliest verifiable printed texts so far discovered are an approximate version (apparently quoted from memory) in a query in the "Queries and Answers" column in The New York Times Book Review, July 12, 1942, p. 23, which asks for the author of the quotation; and a reply in the same column in the issue for August 2, 1942, p. 19, where the quotation is attributed to Niebuhr and an unidentified printed text is quoted as follows:

O God and Heavenly Father,

Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; the courage to change that which can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The prayer became widely known when it was adopted in modified form by Alcoholics Anonymous; an AA magazine, The AA Grapevine, identified Niebuhr as the author (January 1950, pp. 6-7), and the AA web site continues to identify Niebuhr as the author (see External Links). Logo for AA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. ...

Spurious accounts of authorship

Many mistaken accounts of the prayer's origin appeared after 1950. A persistent one attributes the prayer to Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782), but this attribution is the result of a misunderstanding of a plagiarism of the prayer by Theodor Wilhelm, an ex-Nazi professor at the University of Kiel. Wilhelm printed a German version of the prayer as his own work in his book, Wendepunkt der poltitischen Erziehung; he published the book under the pseudonym "Friedrich Oetinger" (the book did not pretend to be the work of the 18th-century Oetinger; the name was merely a pseudonym, apparently chosen because the author's wife was descended from pastors who shared the theology of the 18th-century Oetinger). Theodor Wilhelm was apparently unaware that the US Army and the USO had been distributing the prayer in Germany since the end of World War II, and later writers who were unaware that "Friedrich Oetinger" was a pseudonym (even though the book was clearly written by a 20th-century author) confused this name with the eighteenth-century Oetinger. Wilhelm apparently chose to publish under a pseudonym because his Nazi past was widely known in Germany at the time. Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (May 2, 1702 - February 10, 1782), was a German theosophist. ...

Other spurious claims for the authorship of the prayer (none of them supported by any evidence whatever) include one that the prayer was written by Boethius, a stoic philosopher, just before his execution in the year 525 or 526. Boethius teaching his students (initial in a 1385 Italian manuscript of the Consolation of Philosophy). ...

Adaptations and expansions

The prayer is reliably reported to have been in use in Alcoholics Anonymous since the early 1940s. It has also been used in Narcotics Anonymous and other Twelve-step programs; such as, Serenity Groups. Logo for AA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. ... This article is about the 12-step program of Narcotics Anonymous (NA). ... A Twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles for recovery from addictive, compulsive, or other behavioral problems, originally developed by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) to guide recovery from alcoholism. ...

Niebuhr's original text, from in Elisabeth Sifton's book The Serenity Prayer appears near the top of this page. The slightly edited Alcoholics Anonymous version below omits the word "grace" from the first line, shortens some of the remainder, and sets out the prayer in the form of verses: Logo for AA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. ...

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

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

An expanded version exists, but its origins are unknown; it was certainly not expanded by Reinhold Niebuhr.

God, give us 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.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Precursors

The philosopher W.W. Bartley juxtaposes Niebuhr's prayer with a Mother Goose rhyme expressing a similar sentiment, but without comment:^[1] A page from a late 17th century handwritten and illustrated version of Charles Perraults Contes de ma mère lOye (Mother Goose Tales) depicting Puss in Boots. ...

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.

Allusions to the Prayer

• The back cover of the Neil Young album Re-ac-tor has the prayer in Latin: 'Deus, dona mihi serenitatem accipere res quae non possum mutare, fortitudinem mutare res quae possum, atque sapientiam differentiam cognoscere.' This is possibly a reaction to another son of his being born with cerebral palsy.
• On the back cover of Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album.
• In the song, "Higher Power", by Boston.
• In the song, "Feel so different" (1990), by Sinéad O'Connor.
• In the song, "Gotta Make It To Heaven," by 50 Cent.
• In the intro, "Loving" of India Arie's third album "Testimony Vol 1 - Life And Relationship."
• As a track on Goodie MOb's debut album Soul Food.
• In the book, "Angels & Demons," by Dan Brown, quoted by the Camerlengo (although credited to St. Francis).
• In the book, Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.
• An older printing of the AA's "Big Book" has the 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. Thy will, not mine, be done.'
• In the game World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, one of the Blood Elves' speech recordings has one elf reciting the prayer. He breaks down half way through, overcome with a craving for magic, which Blood Elves are addicted to.
• The Israeli Rapper Subliminal adapts the prayer into his song "Tikvah" (Hope) about the Israeli wars and terrorism.
• The hardcore punk band Blood for Blood has an album named after the prayer, and the first and last tracks of the album are the serenity prayer being recited by the band's lead singer.
• Olivia Newton-John's CD Stronger than Before includes a setting of the prayer, titled "Serenity".
• In Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Season 6, episode 22 entitled "Renewal" first aired Monday, May 21, 2007. It was recited during a prayer group.
• In the film, Mr. Brooks, the title character repeats the prayer several times.

Neil Percival Young[1] OM (born November 12, 1945, Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film director from Omemee, Ontario. ... Re-ac-tor is an album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, released in 1981. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born on August 9, 1963), is a multiple Grammy Award winning American R&B/Pop Diva, actress, film producer, and former fashion model. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sinéad Marie Bernadette OConnor (born December 8, 1966) is a Grammy Award winning Irish singer and songwriter. ... Goodie Mob, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is widely considered one of the founding hip hop acts of the Dirty South movement. ... Soul Food is the 1995 debut album for the Goodie MOb, released by LaFace Records. ... Dan Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the controversial 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. ... Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Childrens Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death is a 1969 novel by best-selling author Kurt Vonnegut. ... Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ... Logo for AA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. ... Kobi Shimoni (Hebrew: יעקב קובי שמעוני) (born November 13, 1979), commonly known by his rap name Subliminal (Hebrew: סאבלימינל), is an Israeli rap artist and music producer. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Olivia Newton-John AO OBE (born 26 September 1948) is a Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated English-born Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. ... Law & Order: Criminal Intent is a United States crime drama television series that began in 2001. ... Mr. ...

Notes

1. ^ W.W. Bartley, The Retreat to Commitment, p. 35

References

• Elisabeth Sifton, The Serenity Prayer (2003)
• L.G. Parkhurst, Jr., Prayer Steps to Serenity the Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition (Agion Press 2006) PrayerSteps.org

External links

• Full documentation (in German) of false claims of authorship
• The Serenity Prayer origin at Alcoholics Anonymous; same text also at The Origin of our Serenity Prayer at Alcoholics Anonymous

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Serenity Prayer