| A Course in Miracles | |
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 A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by Foundation for Inner Peace. |
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| Author(s) | Helen Schucman |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Spiritual life |
| Publisher | New York: Viking: The Foundation for Inner Peace |
| Publication date | orig. 1976; 2nd ed., newly rev. 1996 |
| Media type | Softcover, Hardcover, Paperback MME, and Kindle, Sony & Mobipocket ebooks |
| ISBN | 978-1-883360-24-5 Soft cover |
| OCLC Number | 190860865 |
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A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a book that aims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation. The book describes a purely non-dualistic philosophy of forgiveness and includes what are meant to be practical lessons and applications for the practice of forgiveness in daily life. The introduction to the book contains the following summary, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."
Helen Schucman wrote the book with the help of William Thetford, although it does not identify them as authors, based on what she called an "inner voice" which she identified as Jesus. The 1992 edition, the most recent copyrighted one, is published by the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP), the organization chosen by Schucman for this purpose. It consists of preface, text, workbook for students, manual for teachers (including clarification of terms), and two supplements. Kenneth Wapnick and Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) were awarded the copyright to this edition after the original copyright was overturned. This edited version earned copyright status since it derives from the original manuscript as edited by Wapnick. FIP reports that two million volumes of ACIM have been published and disseminated worldwide since it first became available for sale in 1976. Additionally, the book has been translated into nineteen different languages with eight new translations underway as of 2008.
A Course in Miracles was originally written in a collaborative venture by Schucman and Thetford. In the beginning, the voice (which Schucman claimed to have identified itself earlier to her as Jesus) described them as scribes. At the time, 1965, Thetford was director of the psychology department of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City while at the same time holding a faculty appointment as Professor of Medical Psychology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Schucman began her professional career at the Medical Center as Thetford's research associate, later also to become a tenured professor of psychology at Columbia University. They had become consultants to an interdisciplinary research project at the Cornell University Medical Center, Thetford's former employer. The weekly meetings had become contentious, and they had described that they hated going, feeling both uncomfortable and angry. Tired of the competitiveness and negativity, on an afternoon in June 1965, Thetford delivered a speech to Schucman indicating that he felt they had been using the wrong approach. "There must be another way" he concluded. Schucman felt that this speech had seemed to act as a stimulus that triggered off a long series of inner experiences that could be categorized as visions, dreams, heightened imagery, and an "inner voice" that finally on October 21, 1965 urged her: "This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes". She claims the voice identified itself as that of Jesus. Schucman said that the writing made her very uncomfortable, though it never seriously occurred to her to stop. Schucman explained what was happening to Thetford, who encouraged her to continue this process and helped her in typing out what she read to him from her notes the night before. The whole process took about seven years.
In 1976, A Course in Miracles was published and distributed as a three-volume set-which had evolved from the original notes-and comprised three books: Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers.
During the first 19 years of its circulation, A Course in Miracles was published, printed and distributed directly by the students of the work. In 1995, the printing and distribution of the work was licensed to Penguin Books for five years.
When Schucman experienced some personal difficulties and hesitance after hearing the voice, Bill Thetford, her work supervisor and friend, contacted Hugh Lynn Cayce (son of the celebrity psychic Edgar Cayce) at his Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Virginia to seek his advice and counsel. Shucman later met with Cayce before she began to record the Course.
Kenneth Wapnick was a clinical psychologist who directed a school for disturbed children and served as chief psychologist at Harlem Valley State Hospital from 1967 through 1972. In 1972, Wapnick left his Jewish faith and converted to Catholicism so he could become a monk.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel was a priest with a doctorate in psychology and a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin who studied under Thetford and worked with Schucman. Groeschel arranged an introduction of Wapnick to Schucman and Thetford in November 1972. Groeschel was given a copy of the ACIM manuscript in 1973, and testified that he was instructed by Schucman not to distribute the manuscript; however, with Schucman's permission, he made it available to Wapnick.
Wapnick reviewed the draft and discussed with Schucman further revisions that were needed to place the book in final form. Over the next thirteen months, Wapnick and Schucman edited the manuscript by deleting personal material intended only for Schucman and Thetford, creating chapter and section headings, and correcting various inconsistencies in paragraph structure, punctuation, and capitalization. This editing process was completed by approximately February 1975. Wapnick subsequently became a teacher of the Course, co-founder and president of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM), and a director and executive committee member of the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP).
The Foundation for Inner Peace (or FIP) was originally called the Foundation for Para-Sensory Investigations, Inc. (FPI)., and was founded on October 21, 1971 by Robert Skutch and Judith Skutch Whitson. Robert Skutch and Judith Skutch Whitson were married at the time of its inception, and have since become directors. Robert Skutch was a businessman and writer, who for many years had been a writer of television plays and advertising copy. Judith Skutch Whitson was a teacher and lecturer at New York University on the science of the study of consciousness and parapsychology. On May 29, 1975, Douglas Dean, a physicist engineer, introduced Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnick to Judith Skutch Whitson. Soon thereafter, they introduced her to the Course and the four of them met regularly to study, discuss, and share their common enthusiasm for it. At some point in 1975, Schucman appears to have authorized Skutch Whitson and Ken Wapnick to initiate the process of copyrighting ACIM and to assume responsibility themselves for the resulting copyright.
In mid-July 1975, Skutch Whitson met briefly with her doctoral adviser, Eleanor Criswell, who had a small printing company called Freeperson's Press. Criswell advised Skutch Whitson that she would be willing to assist in having the manuscript published and took responsibility for the manuscript pages, and in August 1975, they were taken to a Kopy Kat copy center in Berkeley, to be reproduced. In August 1975, Skutch Whitson organized a reception at 2000 Broadway, San Francisco, where Schucman and Thetford were introduced to a number of people. During this time period, a number of copies were distributed-hundreds according to Skutch Whitson and Skutch. The first edition of 100 copies of the Criswell edition was bound with a yellow cover and a copyright notice. Robert Skutch filed the copyright for ACIM for FIP on November 24, 1975, swearing to a date of first publication as October 6, 1975, in the form of the Freeperson Press edition. Zelda Suplee, director of the Erickson Educational Foundation, a friend of Skutch Whitson, was given a copy of the uncopyrighted manuscript by Skutch Whitson prior to the publication of the Criswell edition. In 1976, Reed Erickson, a wealthy transsexual philanthropist, received a copy of the manuscript, which he used as a basis for study by a group in Mexico. Erickson was the primary financial backer of the first hard-bound edition of the Course, donating $440,000 for this printing. Later that year the FIP began to publish the Course in a set of three hardcover volumes. Five years later, in 1981, Schucman died of complications related to pancreatic cancer.
In 1983, control of the copyright was transferred to the FACIM as headed by Wapnick.
In 1985, the FIP began publishing the three volumes in a more manageable, single soft-cover volume, but without any editorial content changes.
In 1992, the FIP published a second hardcover edition, which contained some editorial content additions and minor changes. Amongst these changes were the addition of a verse-numbering system. It was Schucman's desire that a non-profit foundation publish the work.
In 1995, FIP entered a five-year printing and distribution agreement, which expired in December 2000, with Penguin Books for $2.5 million. Currently some copies of some of the earlier draft versions of the book (which may or may not be complete, unadulterated or legal) are available both online and through private publishers.
Beginning in June, 1996, and ending in April, 2004, a copyright lawsuit initiated by Penguin Books and FIP was brought against the Church of the Full Endeavor (also known as the 'Endeavor Academy') for their unlimited independent publication of substantial portions of A Course in Miracles. It was found that the contents of the FIP first edition, published from 1976 through 1992, are in the public domain. However, copyright in all of the changes introduced in the Second Edition remains intact, as does the copyright for the Text Preface, "Clarification of Terms" found at the end of the Manual for Teachers, and the two supplementary pamphlets, Psychotherapy and Song of Prayer, as well as Schucman's poetry, The Gifts of God. The original unedited (urtext) manuscript of A Course in Miracles, which has been widely published on the internet, was obtained under false pretenses. This material has been copyrighted separately as The Unpublished Writings of Helen Schucman.
Since the invalidation of the original copyright, which previously protected substantial portions of the earlier Schucman-ACIM material, various individuals, groups, and group members have worked to study and publish various versions and interpretations of this earlier material. Most notable are the Course in Miracles Society (CIMS), headed by Tom Whitmore, and various initiatives by members of Endeavor Academy, which was founded by the late Charles Buell Anderson. The Course in Miracles Society publishes an online and hard cover edition of ACIM which derives from the urtext manuscript and includes Matthew's Gospel.
In 2009, A Course in Miracles The Movie was released. The movie features Ken Wapnick along with several other students and teachers of ACIM.
Since it first became available for sale in 1976, over 2 million copies of A Course in Miracles have been sold worldwide and the text has been translated into sixteen different languages. A Course In Miracles (ACIM) is widely distributed globally, forming the basis of a range of organized groups. The teachings of A Course in Miracles have been supported by commentators and authors such as Eckhart Tolle. However, due to ACIM's claims to "clarify" or even supersede some of the teachings of orthodox Christianity, the book has been judged negatively by some Christians.
Although a friend of Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnik, Benedict J. Groeschel has since criticized ACIM and the related organizations. Finding some elements of the Course to be what he called, "severe and potentially dangerous distortions of Christian theology", he wrote that the Course is “a good example of a false revelation” and that “it has . . . become a spiritual menace to many.”
Other Christian authors, such as evangelical Bob Larson, have similarly criticized A Course In Miracles, saying it "contradicts basic tenets of Christianity, twisting its core teachings and deceiving people who are sincerely looking for God." Larson also criticizes ACIM popularizer Marianne Williamson personally, saying that her work on behalf of ACIM "denies essential qualities of faith such as guilt and forgiveness, and necessitates the Biblically forbidden practice of transpossession mediumship."
Evangelical editor Elliot Miller says that Christian terminology employed in ACIM is "thoroughly redefined" to resemble New Age teachings. Other Christian critics say ACIM is "intensely anti-Biblical", not in keeping with Christianity, "blurs the distinction between Creator and creation", and supports occult and New Age ideas.
Theologian Anton van Harskamp notes that the metaphysics of A Course in Miracles is inconsistent with that of Christianity in that its “story of creation is totally different from the Christian one.” Accordingly to van Harskamp, in looking at "the suffering in the world, 'the Course' says that this world cannot be created by a God.” In the Christian conception “creation is good” “but at the same time it is impossible to say this about everything that exists.” Significantly, even Course editor and promoter, psychologist Kenneth Wapnick, commented that “if the Bible were considered literally true, then the Course would have to be viewed as demonically inspired.”
Skeptic Robert T. Carroll criticizes ACIM as "a minor industry" that is overly commercialized and characterizes it as "Christianity improved", saying its teachings are not original and suggesting they are culled from "various sources, east and west".
Despite the high level of criticism that ACIM has received from many Christian theologians and authors, progressive theologians, both Catholics and Protestants, have given ACIM high marks and "glowing endorsements". In summary, while ACIM's teachings have been heavily denounced by most Christian theologians, the reception has not been uniform or monolithic among Christian clergy and authors. This conflict is anticipated in the Course's Introduction to Clarification of Terms: "They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed."
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