Devine Theory and Addiction
Keating
Mike Ervin

               Divine Therapy and Addiction

Below is a careful, comprehensive summary of Divine Therapy and Addiction: Centering Prayer and the Twelve Steps by Thomas Keating, organized so you can quickly find what you want (overview, structure, chapter-by-chapter themes, major insights, practical takeaways, and who will benefit).

Quick overview

Divine Therapy & Addiction (Lantern Books, revised ed.) is Fr. Thomas Keating’s extended reflection - largely a series of interviews/conversations - on Alcoholics Anonymous’ Twelve-Step method and how that practical spiritual program connects with and is deepened by Christian contemplative practice (especially Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina). Keating treats the Twelve Steps as a living “wisdom tradition,” describes addiction as essentially a spiritual disorder as well as psychological, and argues that recovery is ultimately a transformation by grace - “divine therapy” - rather than only a psychotherapeutic fix. 

How the book is organized

The book is essentially step-by-step: each major chapter focuses on one (or a pair of) of the Twelve Steps, with Keating discussing the spiritual meaning and practical implications of that Step in conversation with a long-time Twelve-Step member (Bill S.). Later chapters synthesize the Steps (“Doing the Steps in Depth”) and there are appendices with supportive materials (text of the Steps, resources, etc.). The table of contents explicitly lists chapters for Step One through Step Twelve, plus combined chapters (e.g., Steps Six & Seven) and appendices. 

Chapter-by-chapter (high-level) summary

(Condensed so you get the main thrust of each step-chapter without long quotations.)

• Step One (We admitted we were powerless…) - Keating reads Step One as the beginning of spiritual honesty and surrender: recognizing powerlessness opens the person to a new reality (dependence on God/Higher Power) and to humility. It’s the first movement away from self-deception and toward truth. 

• Steps Two & Three (Coming to believe; decision to turn our will) - Keating links these steps with conversion and the entry into an inner relationship with God. He emphasizes experience (not merely intellectual assent) of a Higher Power, and frames the Steps as acts of cooperation with grace, not as purely moralistic demands. 

• The Inventory Steps (Four & Five) - Keating explains the necessity of rigorous self-examination and honest confession (moral inventory and sharing it). He locates the moral inventory in the larger task of identifying the unconscious programs (defensive patterns and false self) that keep the addict captive. Confession to another and restitution open the way to freedom. 

• Steps Six & Seven (Becoming ready / humbly asking God) — These are presented as interior surrender and consent to healing. Keating uses his contemplative vocabulary here: willingness and consent to God’s transforming presence (the essence of Centering Prayer practice) are what make the psychic/emotional changes possible. 

• Steps Eight & Nine (Making a list of those harmed; making amends) - Keating reads amends in a spiritual as well as practical way: restoring relationships and truth-telling dissolves shame and the isolation that feeds addiction. The process is both interpersonal repair and inner purification. 

• Step Ten (Continued personal inventory) - Ongoing spiritual maintenance: Keating connects the daily inventory with the contemplative habit of ongoing awareness and willingness to be corrected, so recovery becomes a continuing interior practice rather than a one-time cure. 

• Step Eleven (Seeking conscious contact through prayer and meditation) - This chapter is central for Keating: he shows direct parallels between Step Eleven and contemplative prayer disciplines - especially Centering Prayer. He outlines how silent prayer deepens the relationship with God and supports the sobriety work of other steps. 

• Step Twelve (Carrying the message) - Keating frames this as the natural fruit of genuine spiritual transformation: when interior healing has occurred, service and simple presence to others become the vehicle of continued recovery and spiritual growth. 

• Doing the Steps in Depth (synthesis) - Keating pulls the threads together, showing how the Steps form an integrated path: truth-telling, surrender, making amends, prayer, and service together effect a change of consciousness he calls divine therapy. He contrasts this healing with the more circumscribed aims of ordinary psychotherapy. 

Major themes and insights

1. Twelve Steps as a wisdom tradition - Keating treats AA’s program not just as a social support system but as a spiritual discipline with rites, rules, and practices that, when interiorized, lead to transformation. He repeatedly calls attention to the depth and universality of the Steps’ wisdom.  
2. Divine therapy vs. psychotherapy — Keating distinguishes clinical therapy (which may help skills and coping) from divine therapy, the healing that comes from direct contact with God through grace. He argues that contemplative prayer enables the deeper restructuring of the heart and unconscious that addiction requires.  
3. Surrender and consent - Central to Keating’s approach is the idea that healing begins with truthful admission and continues as consenting to God’s action in prayer. He often uses the technical contemplative practice notion of consent — a deliberate interior letting-go that opens one to divine transformation.  
4. Integration of prayer and Steps - Practical instruction on how silent, receptive prayer (Centering Prayer) and spiritual reading (Lectio Divina) can deepen Step Eleven and support the emotional work of inventory, amends, and continued vigilance. Keating treats contemplative practice as both a preventative and a curative element in recovery.  
5. Addiction as spiritual/relational disease - Addiction is portrayed as arising from disordered attachments and false self-structures; recovery requires repair of relationship to God, oneself, and others (hence the importance of Steps that emphasize confession, amends, and service).  

Practical material in the book

• Each Step chapter contains concrete reflections and recommendations (e.g., how to understand specific Step language, how to practice Step Eleven alongside Centering Prayer, the role of sponsors, making amends in practical ways).
• Keating and his interlocutor include real-world examples and pastoral counsel about meetings, sponsorship, relapse, and patience in the recovery process.
• Appendices reproduce helpful texts (including the Twelve Steps) and list further resources for those who want a deeper program.  

Tone, style, and intended audience

• Tone: pastoral, contemplative, conversational (Keating’s voice is reflective and compassionate rather than academic). Much of the book reads as dialogue/interview rather than formal exposition.  
• Audience: people in recovery or involved in Twelve-Step ministries, spiritual directors, pastors, therapists open to integrating spirituality and recovery work, and students of contemplative prayer who want to see how practice applies to addictions.

Strengths and limitations (brief critique)

Strengths

• Bridges two powerful spiritual resources: AA’s pragmatic Steps and Christian contemplative traditions, offering a spiritually deep, pastoral approach to addiction recovery.
• Practical and accessible - Keating’s pastoral tone and the interview format make complex contemplative ideas approachable for recovery communities.  

Limitations / cautions

• Keating writes from a Christian contemplative perspective; readers from other faiths or a strictly secular clinical orientation will need to translate some of his theological language into their own frameworks.
• The book is not a substitute for medical/psychiatric care when addiction involves severe physical dependence or co-occurring mental illness; Keating sees divine therapy as complementary to, not always replacing, clinical interventions. (He emphasizes integration rather than exclusion.)  

Practical takeaways you can use or teach

• Teach Step Eleven alongside a simple Centering Prayer practice as daily support for recovery. Keating gives language and rationale for pairing them.  
• Present the Twelve Steps as a spiritual path: emphasize confession, surrender, amends, and service as transformative practices rather than only behavioral rules.  
• Use Keating’s distinction between psychotherapy and divine therapy to encourage collaboration: pastoral/contemplative work can complement clinical treatment, not replace it.  

Where this book sits in Keating’s work

This book is a natural extension of Keating’s lifelong work popularizing Centering Prayer and encouraging interfaith and practical applications of contemplative practice. It’s particularly aimed at applying contemplative insights to everyday pastoral problems - here, addiction and recovery. 

Devine Theory and Addiction

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