SummaryIn this paper an attempt is made to trace the origins of the drug‐free therapeutic community. Virtually all such programmes in North America may be traced to Synanon, which in turn may readily be traced back through Alcoholics Anonymous to the so‐called Oxford Group. At this point the line of evolution becomes less evident. But an examination of various aspects of the background and career of Dr. Frank Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group, suggests a strong link with the Protestant Reformation and, through it, with the forms and practices of primitive Christianity as embodied in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is suggested that the present‐day therapeutic community is only the most recent reincarnation of a particular type of religious organization which dates from at least the Intertestamentary Period.