Victims and Sinners

More than one million Americans participate in Alcoholics Anonymous groups. Addiction recovery groups such as A.A. often rely heavily on religious themes, offering a form of spirituality as a way to deal with life's problems. Many recovery groups, however, borrow selectively from theology because the full Christian doctrine of sin can be alienating for those in recovery. Linda Mercadante offers a theological critique of addiction recovery programs and proposes an alternate view of addiction that avoids both excessive blame and excessive victimization. This book is for pastoral counselors, clergy, laypersons, and recovery group members wanting to reassess addiction recovery from a theological perspective. It offers a wake-up call to the church both to establish recovery groups and to construct a language for better dialogue.