Born in 1886 in Ireland, Emmet Fox was trained as an electrical engineer but instead pursued a life as a spiritual teacher and lecture in the United State. In 1931, he became the minister of the Church of the Healing Christ in New York City. An acclaimed and influential philosopher, spiritual teacher, and writer whose work, such as The Sermon on the Mount, were an early inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous, he died in France in 1951.