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| {{Short description|1976 book by Helen Schucman}} | |||
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| {{Infobox book | {{Infobox book | ||
| | name = ''A Course in Miracles'' | | name = ''A Course in Miracles'' | ||
| | image = ACIM3COVER.jpg | | image = ACIM3COVER.jpg | ||
| | caption = ''A Course in Miracles'', Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by the<br /> |
| caption = ''A Course in Miracles'', Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by the<br /> Foundation for Inner Peace | ||
| | author = There is no author attributed to ''ACIM'', although it was "scribed" by |
| author = There is no author attributed to ''ACIM'', although it was "scribed" by Helen Schucman | ||
| | editor = Helen Schucman, ], Kenneth Wapnick | | editor = ], ], Kenneth Wapnick | ||
| | illustrator = | | illustrator = | ||
| | cover_artist = | | cover_artist = | ||
| | country = United States | | country = United States | ||
| ⚫ | | subject = ] | ||
| | language = English | |||
| ⚫ | | publisher = 1976 (New York: Viking: The Foundation for Inner Peace) <br /> 2007 (The Foundation for Inner Peace, 3rd ed.) | ||
| | series = | |||
| | media_type = Print (hardback and paperback) | |||
| ⚫ | | subject = ] | ||
| ⚫ | | pages = 1333 | ||
| | genre = ] | |||
| ⚫ | | isbn = 978-1-883360-24-5 | ||
| ⚫ | | |
||
| ⚫ | | oclc = 190860865 | ||
| | media_type = Softcover, hardcover, paperback MME, and Kindle, Sony and Mobipocket ebooks | |||
| ⚫ | | preceded_by = | ||
| ⚫ | | pages = 1333 | ||
| ⚫ | | followed_by = | ||
| ⚫ | | isbn = 978-1-883360-24-5 | ||
| ⚫ | | oclc = 190860865 | ||
| ⚫ | | preceded_by = | ||
| ⚫ | | followed_by = | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| {{Paranormal}} | |||
| {{New Age beliefs sidebar}} | |||
| {{NewThought}} | {{NewThought}} | ||
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| '''''A Course in Miracles''''' (also referred to as '''''ACIM''''') is a 1976 book by ]. The underlying premise is that the greatest "]" is the act of simply gaining a full "awareness of love's presence" in a person's life.<ref>''A Course in Miracles''. Foundation for Inner Peace. , p. 1. Retrieved December 29, 2017.</ref> Schucman said that the book had been dictated to her, word for word, via a process of "inner dictation" from ] ].<ref name="scribes">{{cite web|title=ACIM: About the Scribes|url=http://www.acim.org/Scribing/about_scribes.html|website=acim.org|publisher=Foundation for Inner Peace|access-date=December 29, 2017}}</ref><ref name="ACIMPrefaceHowItCame">{{cite book|author=Foundation for Inner Peace|title=A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume|date=1992|publisher=The Foundation|location=Glen Ellen, Calif.|isbn=0-9606388-9-X|pages=vii–viii|edition=2nd|url=https://www.acim.org/AboutACIM/how.html|access-date=December 29, 2017}}</ref> The book is considered to have borrowed from ] movement writings.<ref name="Newport" /><ref name="Carroll" /> | |||
| ⚫ | Throughout the 1980s annual sales of the book steadily increased each year; |
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| ⚫ | ''ACIM'' has three sections: "Text", "Workbook for Students", and "Manual for Teachers". Written from 1965 to 1972, some distribution occurred via photocopies before the Foundation for Inner Peace published a hardcover edition in 1976.<ref name="Miller2011">{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=D. Patrick|title=Understanding A Course in Miracles: The History, Message, and Legacy of a Spiritual Path for Today|date=November 23, 2011|publisher=]|location=]|isbn=9780307807793|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ugFYKozgIgC|access-date=December 29, 2017}}</ref> The copyright and trademarks, which had been held by two foundations, were revoked in 2004<ref name="Miller2011"/> after lengthy litigation because the earliest versions had been circulated without a copyright notice.<ref name="Beverley2009">{{cite book |last=Beverley |first=James |title=Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions: A Comprehensive Introduction to the Religions of the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ul0kFIxtMfkC&pg=PT397|access-date=December 29, 2017|date=May 19, 2009|publisher=]|isbn=9781418577469|pages=397–}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Recipient's Common Interest in Subject of Work Does Not Limit Publication|journal=]|year=2003|volume=67|issue=1645|pages=16–17|publisher=]}}</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | Throughout the 1980s, annual sales of the book steadily increased each year; the largest growth in sales occurred in 1992 after ] discussed the book on '']'',<ref name="Miller2011"/> with more than two million volumes sold.<ref name="Miller2011"/> The book has been called everything from "New Age psychobabble"<ref name="BoaBowman1997">{{cite book |last1=Boa |first1=Kenneth |last2=Bowman |first2=Robert M. |title=An Unchanging Faith in a Changing World: Understanding and Responding to Critical Issues that Christians Face Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJuUtcoUOysC|access-date=September 28, 2014|year=1997|publisher=Oliver Nelson|isbn=9780785273523}}</ref> to "a Satanic seduction"<ref name="Miller2011"/> to "The New Age Bible".<ref>{{Cite web |first=Suzette|last=van IJssel|url=http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/publications/social_work_journal/issue09/articles/2_Immanent.htm |title=The Imminent Heaven: Spiritual Post-Metaphysics and Ethics in a Postmodern Era |access-date=September 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621164247/http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/publications/social_work_journal/issue09/articles/2_Immanent.htm |archive-date=June 21, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to ], the psychiatrist and author ] was among the most effective promoters of ''ACIM''. Jampolsky's first book, ''Love is Letting Go of Fear'', based on the principles of ''ACIM'', was published in 1979 and, after being endorsed on ]'s show, sold over three million copies by 1990.<ref>Hammer (2021: p. 450)</ref> | ||
| ==Origins== | ==Origins== | ||
| ''A Course in Miracles'' was written as a collaborative venture between Schucman and William ( |
''A Course in Miracles'' was written as a collaborative venture between Schucman and William ("Bill") Thetford. In 1958, Schucman began her professional career at ] in New York City as Thetford's research associate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://acim.org/Scribing/about_scribes.html|title=Helen Schucman's Career}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://acim.biz/a-course-in-miracles-book-acim/|title=A Course in Miracles Book ACIM Lessons Online and Text|work=ACIM Portal|access-date=December 25, 2017}}</ref> In 1965, at a time when their weekly office meetings had become so contentious that they both dreaded them, Thetford suggested to Schucman that "here must be another way".<ref name="Collaboration">{{cite book | title=Helen Schucman: Autobiography, in "Origins of A Course in Miracles" 3:27–28 |publisher=Foundation for Inner Peace Archives, Tiburon, CA)}}</ref> Schucman believed that this interaction acted as a stimulus, triggering a series of inner experiences that were understood by her as visions, dreams, and heightened imagery, along with an "inner voice" that she identified as Jesus (although the ''ACIM'' text itself never explicitly claims that the voice she hears speaking is that of Jesus).<ref name="Hammer 2021 p. 153"/><ref name="Clarke2004"/> She said that on October 21, 1965, an "inner voice" told her: "This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes." | ||
| Schucman said the writing made her very uncomfortable, though it never seriously occurred to her to stop.<ref>Skutch, Robert. ''Journey Without Distance: The Story Behind A Course in Miracles''. ], Berkeley, CA, 1984, p. 58.</ref> The next day, she explained the events of her "note-taking" to Thetford. To her surprise, Thetford encouraged her to continue the process. He also offered to assist her in typing out her notes as she read them to him. The process continued the next day and repeated regularly for many years. In 1972, the writing of the three main sections of ''ACIM'' was completed, with some additional minor writing coming after that point.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.miraclestudies.net/Scribe.html|title=The Scribe: Helen Schucman and A Course in Miracles©|website=www.miraclestudies.net}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| Fr. ], a Roman Catholic priest who had studied under Thetford and worked with Schucman, arranged an introduction of Kenneth 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 then reviewed the draft and discussed, with Schucman and Thetford, further revisions that he felt were needed in order to place the book in its final copyrighted and published form. Thetford then made a few further editorial decisions and stipulations about the "Principles of Miracles" section, and soon afterwards opted to withdraw from being directly involved with any further major edits to the material. Wapnick and Schucman continued to edit the manuscript by deleting personal material apparently directed only to Schucman and Thetford, creating chapter and section headings, and correcting various inconsistencies in paragraph structure, punctuation, and capitalization.<ref name="The Story of A Course In Miracles">{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpJ6BO8xeDA |title= The Story of A Course In Miracles = Documentary where Bill Thetford, Helen Schucman, and Ken Wapnick talk about A Course In Miracles |accessdate=2011-02-21}}</ref> This editing process was completed by approximately February 1975. Wapnick subsequently became a teacher of ''ACIM,'' a 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). | |||
| For copyright purposes, US courts determined that the author of the text was Schucman, not Jesus.<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125"/> Kenneth Wapnick believed that Schucman did not channel Jesus, but was describing her "own mental experience of divine 'love{{'"}}.<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125"/> | |||
| ==Contents== | |||
| The content of ''A Course in Miracles'' is presented in the three sections: "Textbook", "Workbook", and "Manual for Teachers": | |||
| * The "Textbook" presents a thought system about truth and illusion on two levels: | |||
| **It states that ''everything'' involving time, space, and ] is illusory. It presents a nondualism which states that ] is the only truth and reality: perfect, unchanging, unchangeable, extending only love, though not in ] and space, which cannot really be comprehended from a dualistic perspective. The theory further states that all life as we perceive it is actually one life (because God has only one son, sometimes called the collective sonship), dreaming of separation and fragmentation. It claims that eternity is outside time and space and that this dream never occurred in reality and is "already over", though not the (illusory) perception. When addressing the question of how such an illusory dream could arise from a perfect and unchanging God, the Course states that to ask that question is to presume that the time-space dream is real, which it states is not. ''A Course in Miracles'' states that to think we exist as individuals is the fundamental error. However, since we experience ourselves in time and space, reading these pages, the course presents its thought system on a second level: | |||
| ** The time-space level, or "perceptory" level, which is referred to as "the dream". ''A Course in Miracles'' states that this level was "made" by the "sleeping Son" as an attack on God. Furthermore, the "Son" is regarded as not just ], but as all collective life. In this time-space dream, perception is continuously fueled by what it originated from: separation, judgment, and attack. This results in what the Course calls the "sin-guilt-fear" cycle: we ''sinned'' by rejecting God and making a universe of time-space (the ]); this results in ''guilt'' over our rejection of our Creator, and subsequent ''fear'' of God's wrath. The "sin-guilt-fear" is described as too horrendous to face, and therefore subsequently ] out, so that to ''Homo sapiens'' it seems that evil is everywhere except in himself. The world becomes a threatening place, in which we are born only to fear, fight, and die. The thought that keeps this process going is referred to as "]", or "the wrong mind". ''A Course in Miracles'' concludes that happiness cannot be found in earthly time-space life, and urges the reader not to commit ] but rather to make a fundamental mind shift from "condemnation-out-of-fear" (mindlessness) to "forgiveness-out-of-love" (]), since our "right mind" is outside time-space and cannot be harmed by worldly attacks. According to the course, seeing "the Face of Christ" in all living things is the way to "accept the Atonement" and ultimately awaken from the dream and return to the eternity of God. Ultimately, this means the end of ] and of the ego. In this respect, there are parallels with the Indian concept of ] and the '']'' scriptures, which Helen Schucman reports that she was not familiar with, although William Thetford was. | |||
| * The "Workbook" presents 365 lessons, one for each day of the year, which claim to recondition the student's mind from "condemnation-out-of-fear" to "forgiveness-out-of-love". ''A Course in Miracles'' defines "miracle" as the conscious choice to make that mind shift, including its non-observable effects on the minds of others.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} The workbook lessons attempt to train the reader to see oneness in all living things for a steadily increasing time of the day. The lessons aim at convincing by experience. The core message of the workbook is that, to forgive oneself completely, a person must (a) forgive all living things, and (b) do this by instruction of the Holy Spirit (i.e., the "Voice for God," "right mind," "Inner Teacher," or "intuition"). At the end, after one year, the workbook states that it is "a beginning, not an end". | |||
| * The "Manual for Teachers" is a collection of questions and answers. It aims at motivating the reader to become a "teacher of God": a human being living in time and space, but at the same time seeing oneness in everything, having let go of all individual and separate interests, and being fully guided by the "voice" of the Holy Spirit. | |||
| * In the third edition, the two pamphlets "Psychotherapy" and "The Song of Prayer" were added. They elaborate on the parallels with current psychotherapy and on the meaning of prayer, respectively. | |||
| ⚫ | ==Reception== | ||
| == Foundation for Inner Peace and other editions == | |||
| Since it went on sale in 1976, the book has been translated into 27 languages.<ref name="translations">{{cite web | url = http://www.acim.org |title=ACIM Translations |publisher=Foundation for Inner Peace |access-date=August 10, 2021}}</ref> It is distributed globally, spawning a range of organized groups.<ref name="Cosgrove Cox Kuhling 2010 p. ">{{cite book | last=Bradby | first=Ruth | editor-last=Cosgrove |editor-first=Olivia |editor2-last=Cox |editor2-first=Laurence |editor3-last=Kuhling |editor3-first=Carmen | editor4-last=Mulholland | editor4-first=Peter | title=Ireland's New Religious Movements | publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4438-2615-0 | chapter=A course in miracles in Ireland | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vY0nBwAAQBAJ | access-date=21 January 2022 | pages=147–162}}</ref> | |||
| A limited edition release of 300 copies of the first three sections of the book was published by The Foundation for Inner Peace, a publishing company that had been created solely to publish A Course In Miracles. In June, 1976, FIP published the first three sections of ''ACIM'' in a set of three hardcover volumes in a 5,000 copy run, along with the publication of the supplemental booklet ''Psychology: Purpose, Process, Practice.'' In 1985, FIP began publishing a single volume containing all three of the first books in single soft-cover volume. In 1992, FIP published its second edition, a hardcover edition. This revision incorporated some minor changes within the first three sections including some editorial content additions and the addition of a verse-numbering system, as well as addition of the "Clarification of Terms" section. At this time, FIP also released the publication of the supplemental ''Song of Prayer'' booklet. | |||
| ⚫ | Wapnick said that "if the Bible were considered literally true, then (from a Biblical literalist's viewpoint) the Course would have to be viewed as demonically inspired".<ref>Dean C. Halverson, "Seeing Yourself as Sinless", ''SCP Journal'' 7, no. 1 (1987): 23.</ref> He also said, "I often taught in the context of the Bible, even though it is obvious to serious students of ''A Course in Miracles'' that it and the Bible are fundamentally incompatible."<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125"/> "''Course''-teachers Robert Perry, Greg Mackie, and Allen Watson" disagreed about that.<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125"/> Though a friend of Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnick, Catholic priest ] criticized ''ACIM'' and related organizations. Finding some elements of ''ACIM'' to be "severe and potentially dangerous distortions of Christian theology", he wrote that it is "a good example of a false revelation"<ref>Groeschel, Benedict J., ''A Still Small Voice'' (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993) p. 80</ref> and that it has "become a spiritual menace to many".<ref>Groeschel, Benedict J., ''A Still Small Voice'' (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993) p. 82.</ref> The evangelical editor Elliot Miller says that Christian terminology employed in ''ACIM'' is "thoroughly redefined" to resemble ] teachings. Other Christian critics say that ''ACIM'' is "intensely anti-biblical" and incompatible with Christianity, blurring the distinction between creator and created and forcefully supporting an occult and New Age worldview.<ref name="Newport">{{cite book|last=Newport|first= John P. |title=The New Age movement and the biblical worldview: conflict and dialogue |url=https://archive.org/details/newagemovementbi00newp|url-access=registration|page=|quote=a course in miracles christian criticism.|year=1998|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4430-9}}</ref> | ||
| In October, 2004, a long-standing copyright battle over A Course In Miracles was decided with a ruling that put the work into the public domain. | |||
| Olav Hammer locates ''A Course in Miracles'' in the tradition of channeled works from those of ] to ]'s<ref name="Hammer 2021 p. 153">{{cite book | last=Hammer | first=Olav | title=Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age | publisher=Brill | series=Numen Book Series | year=2021 | origyear=2004 | isbn=978-90-04-49399-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpJOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 | access-date=21 January 2022 | page=153 | quote=''A Course in Miracles'' is said to have been channeled from a discarnate entity perceived as Jesus but never explicitly named as such in the ensuing text.}}</ref> and notes the close parallels between ] and the teachings of the Course.<ref>Hammer (2021: 444)</ref><!-- no source has been provided for this: Alternatively, it can be seen more broadly as part of the tradition of mystical literature described in ]' '']'' and ]'s '']''.--> Hammer called it "gnosticizing beliefs".<ref>Hammer (2021: 55)</ref> In "'Knowledge is Truth': A Course in Miracles as Neo-Gnostic Scripture" in ''Gnosis'': '']'', Simon J. Joseph outlines the relationship between the Course and ] thinking.<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125">{{cite journal | last=Joseph | first=Simon J. | title='Knowledge is Truth': A Course in Miracles as Neo-Gnostic Scripture | journal=GNOSIS | publisher=Brill | volume=2 | issue=1 | date=22 March 2017 | issn=2451-8581 | doi=10.1163/2451859x-12340028 | pages=94–125}}</ref> Daren Kemp also considers ''ACIM'' neo-Gnostic and agrees with Hammer that it is a channeled text.<ref name="Clarke2004">{{cite book|editor-first=Peter|editor-last=Clarke|first=Daren|last=Kemp|chapter=A COURSE IN MIRACLES|title=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DouBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|date=March 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-49970-0|page=1}}</ref> The course has been viewed as a way that "integrates a psychological world view with a universal spiritual perspective" and linked to ].<ref name=ACIM>Miracles with Counselors, David Aldrich Osgood, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1991), Transpersonal Psychology and A Course in Miracles P.43 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5794&context=dissertations_1</ref> | |||
| In August, 2017, the Circle of Atonement published "A Course in Miracles: Complete and Annotated Edition", which contains the original material that Helen Schucman wrote up to 1972, and prior to it being edited by Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnick into the Foundation for Inner Peace edition. | |||
| Joseph declared: {{blockquote|Consequently, new manuscript discoveries, lost gospels, and new “scriptural” revelations represent an effective way of subverting the traditional picture of early Christian origins and destabilizing traditional Christian authority by redefining the cultural boundaries of Christianity in contemporary culture. Since the Course’s redefinition of terms is so offensive to its critics, the Gospel narrative that the Course subverts and redefines is the suffering, death, and crucifixion of Jesus.<ref name="Joseph pp. 94–125"/>|Simon J. Joseph}} | |||
| ⚫ | ==Reception== | ||
| Since it first went on sale in 1976, the text has been translated into 22 languages.<ref name="translations">{{cite web | url = http://www.acim.org |title=ACIM Translations |publisher=Foundation for Inner Peace |accessdate=2009-09-28}}</ref> The book is distributed globally, forming the basis of a range of organized groups.<ref>Bradby, Ruth, "A course in miracles in Ireland". 147 - 162 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), Ireland's new religious movements. Cambridge Scholars, 2011</ref> | |||
| Another dismissal of ACIM and claim for its subversiveness comes from some on the political left, who note that ], who encouraged and helped bring Schucman's work to press, was a ] operative and psychologist. In ], ] quotes a post asserting the CIA sought "to infiltrate and dilute the American left with New Age ideas and inwardly-focused, anti-rational religious movements".<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Heti| first1=Sheila |title=The New Age Bible| magazine=Harper's Magazine|date=September 2024 |page=48 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/09/the-new-age-bible-sheila-heti-a-course-in-miracles/ | |||
| ⚫ | Wapnick said that "if the Bible were considered literally true, then (from a Biblical literalist's viewpoint) the Course would have to be viewed as demonically inspired".<ref>Dean C. Halverson, |
||
| }}</ref> | |||
| '']'' describes ''ACIM'' as "a minor industry" that is overly commercialized and characterizes it as "Christianity improved". ] wrote that the teachings are not original but culled from "various sources, east, and west". He adds that it has gained increased popularity as New Age spirituality writer Marianne Williamson promoted a variant.<ref name="Carroll">{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd |title=The skeptic's dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&q=skeptic+%22a+course+in+miracles&pg=PA84|year=2003|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=978-0-471-27242-7}}</ref> | |||
| ==Associated works== | ==Associated works== | ||
| Two |
Two works have been described as extensions of ''A Course in Miracles'', Gary Renard's 2003 ''The Disappearance of the Universe'' and Marianne Williamson's '']'' published in 1992.<ref name="Miller2011"/><ref>].. ], 2010. p. 223.</ref><ref>]. . ], 2013. p. 223.</ref><ref>Coburn, Lorri. . ], 2011. p. 193.</ref> ''The Disappearance of the Universe'', published in 2003 by Fearless Books, was republished by ] in 2004.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Brandy |date=July 29, 2006 |title=Community of Faith: News from Houses of Worship: 'Disappearance of Universe' author to host workshop |url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1132C530A58FA578?p=WORLDNEWS |newspaper=] |access-date=August 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201143022/http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1132C530A58FA578?p=WORLDNEWS |archive-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> '']'' reported that Renard's examination of ''A Course in Miracles'' influenced his book.<ref>{{cite news |last=Garrett |first=Lynn |date=March 7, 2005 |title='Disappearance' Appears Big Time |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050307/28564-disappearance-appears-big-time.html |newspaper=] |access-date=August 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809091512/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050307/28564-disappearance-appears-big-time.html |archive-date=August 9, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{portal|Books}} | ||
| == See also == | |||
| {{portal|Books}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| == References == | == References == | ||
| {{Reflist|30em}} | {{Reflist|30em}} | ||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| * ''Absence from Felicity: The Story of Helen Schucman and Her Scribing of A Course in Miracles''. By Wapnick, Kenneth (1999). (2d ed.). New York: Foundation for A Course in Miracles. {{ISBN|0-933291-08-6}}. Discusses Helen Schucman and the pre-publication history of ''ACIM''. | |||
| * ''Journey Without Distance: The Story Behind A Course in Miracles''. By Skutch, Robert (1996). Mill Valley: Foundation for Inner Peace. {{ISBN|1-883360-02-1}}. Discusses the pre-publication history of ''ACIM''. | |||
| * ''Never Forget To Laugh: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course''. By Howe, Carol (2009). Perfect Paperback. {{ISBN|978-1-889642-21-5}}. | |||
| * ''One Course, Two Visions, A Comparison of the Teachings of the Circle of Atonement and Ken Wapnick on A Course in Miracles''. By Perry, Robert (2004). Circle of Atonement. {{ISBN|1-886602-22-0}}. One vision comes from Ken Wapnick and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles. The other comes from Robert Perry and his colleagues at the Circle of Atonement. | |||
| * ''A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles''. By ] (1996). New York: HarperCollins. {{ISBN|0-06-092748-8}}. | |||
| * ''Understanding A Course in Miracles: The History, Message, and Legacy of a Spiritual Path for Today''. By Miller, D. Patrick (2008). Berkeley: Celestial Arts/Random House. {{ISBN|978-1-58761-312-8}}. A journalistic overview of the history, major principles, criticism, and cultural effects of ''ACIM''. | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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| ** – Published by Diamond Clear | |||
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Latest revision as of 16:05, 31 December 2024
1976 book by Helen Schucman
 A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by theFoundation for Inner Peace | |
| Editor | Helen Schucman, Bill Thetford, Kenneth Wapnick |
|---|---|
| Author | There is no author attributed to ACIM, although it was "scribed" by Helen Schucman |
| Subject | Spiritual transformation |
| Publisher | 1976 (New York: Viking: The Foundation for Inner Peace) 2007 (The Foundation for Inner Peace, 3rd ed.) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 1333 |
| ISBN | 978-1-883360-24-5 |
| OCLC | 190860865 |
| New Age beliefs List of New Age topics |
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| Concepts |
| Spiritual practices |
| Doctrines |
A Course in Miracles (also referred to as ACIM) is a 1976 book by Helen Schucman. The underlying premise is that the greatest "miracle" is the act of simply gaining a full "awareness of love's presence" in a person's life. Schucman said that the book had been dictated to her, word for word, via a process of "inner dictation" from Jesus Christ. The book is considered to have borrowed from New Age movement writings.
ACIM has three sections: "Text", "Workbook for Students", and "Manual for Teachers". Written from 1965 to 1972, some distribution occurred via photocopies before the Foundation for Inner Peace published a hardcover edition in 1976. The copyright and trademarks, which had been held by two foundations, were revoked in 2004 after lengthy litigation because the earliest versions had been circulated without a copyright notice.
Throughout the 1980s, annual sales of the book steadily increased each year; the largest growth in sales occurred in 1992 after Marianne Williamson discussed the book on The Oprah Winfrey Show, with more than two million volumes sold. The book has been called everything from "New Age psychobabble" to "a Satanic seduction" to "The New Age Bible". According to Olav Hammer, the psychiatrist and author Gerald G. Jampolsky was among the most effective promoters of ACIM. Jampolsky's first book, Love is Letting Go of Fear, based on the principles of ACIM, was published in 1979 and, after being endorsed on Johnny Carson's show, sold over three million copies by 1990.
Origins
A Course in Miracles was written as a collaborative venture between Schucman and William ("Bill") Thetford. In 1958, Schucman began her professional career at Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City as Thetford's research associate. In 1965, at a time when their weekly office meetings had become so contentious that they both dreaded them, Thetford suggested to Schucman that "here must be another way". Schucman believed that this interaction acted as a stimulus, triggering a series of inner experiences that were understood by her as visions, dreams, and heightened imagery, along with an "inner voice" that she identified as Jesus (although the ACIM text itself never explicitly claims that the voice she hears speaking is that of Jesus). She said that on October 21, 1965, an "inner voice" told her: "This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes."
Schucman said the writing made her very uncomfortable, though it never seriously occurred to her to stop. The next day, she explained the events of her "note-taking" to Thetford. To her surprise, Thetford encouraged her to continue the process. He also offered to assist her in typing out her notes as she read them to him. The process continued the next day and repeated regularly for many years. In 1972, the writing of the three main sections of ACIM was completed, with some additional minor writing coming after that point.
For copyright purposes, US courts determined that the author of the text was Schucman, not Jesus. Kenneth Wapnick believed that Schucman did not channel Jesus, but was describing her "own mental experience of divine 'love'".
Reception
Since it went on sale in 1976, the book has been translated into 27 languages. It is distributed globally, spawning a range of organized groups.
Wapnick said that "if the Bible were considered literally true, then (from a Biblical literalist's viewpoint) the Course would have to be viewed as demonically inspired". He also said, "I often taught in the context of the Bible, even though it is obvious to serious students of A Course in Miracles that it and the Bible are fundamentally incompatible." "Course-teachers Robert Perry, Greg Mackie, and Allen Watson" disagreed about that. Though a friend of Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnick, Catholic priest Benedict Groeschel criticized ACIM and related organizations. Finding some elements of ACIM to be "severe and potentially dangerous distortions of Christian theology", he wrote that it is "a good example of a false revelation" and that it has "become a spiritual menace to many". The evangelical editor Elliot Miller says that Christian terminology employed in ACIM is "thoroughly redefined" to resemble New Age teachings. Other Christian critics say that ACIM is "intensely anti-biblical" and incompatible with Christianity, blurring the distinction between creator and created and forcefully supporting an occult and New Age worldview.
Olav Hammer locates A Course in Miracles in the tradition of channeled works from those of Madam Blavatsky to Rudolf Steiner's and notes the close parallels between Christian Science and the teachings of the Course. Hammer called it "gnosticizing beliefs". In "'Knowledge is Truth': A Course in Miracles as Neo-Gnostic Scripture" in Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies, Simon J. Joseph outlines the relationship between the Course and Gnostic thinking. Daren Kemp also considers ACIM neo-Gnostic and agrees with Hammer that it is a channeled text. The course has been viewed as a way that "integrates a psychological world view with a universal spiritual perspective" and linked to transpersonal psychology.
Joseph declared:
Consequently, new manuscript discoveries, lost gospels, and new “scriptural” revelations represent an effective way of subverting the traditional picture of early Christian origins and destabilizing traditional Christian authority by redefining the cultural boundaries of Christianity in contemporary culture. Since the Course’s redefinition of terms is so offensive to its critics, the Gospel narrative that the Course subverts and redefines is the suffering, death, and crucifixion of Jesus.
— Simon J. Joseph
Another dismissal of ACIM and claim for its subversiveness comes from some on the political left, who note that William Thetford, who encouraged and helped bring Schucman's work to press, was a CIA operative and psychologist. In Harper's Magazine, Sheila Heti quotes a post asserting the CIA sought "to infiltrate and dilute the American left with New Age ideas and inwardly-focused, anti-rational religious movements".
The Skeptic's Dictionary describes ACIM as "a minor industry" that is overly commercialized and characterizes it as "Christianity improved". Robert T. Carroll wrote that the teachings are not original but culled from "various sources, east, and west". He adds that it has gained increased popularity as New Age spirituality writer Marianne Williamson promoted a variant.
Associated works
Two works have been described as extensions of A Course in Miracles, Gary Renard's 2003 The Disappearance of the Universe and Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love published in 1992. The Disappearance of the Universe, published in 2003 by Fearless Books, was republished by Hay House in 2004. Publishers Weekly reported that Renard's examination of A Course in Miracles influenced his book.
References
- A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Introduction, p. 1. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- "ACIM: About the Scribes". acim.org. Foundation for Inner Peace. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- Foundation for Inner Peace (1992). A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume (2nd ed.). Glen Ellen, Calif.: The Foundation. pp. vii–viii. ISBN 0-9606388-9-X. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Newport, John P. (1998). The New Age movement and the biblical worldview: conflict and dialogue. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-8028-4430-9.
a course in miracles christian criticism.
- ^ Carroll, Robert Todd (2003). The skeptic's dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-27242-7.
- ^ Miller, D. Patrick (November 23, 2011). Understanding A Course in Miracles: The History, Message, and Legacy of a Spiritual Path for Today. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts. ISBN 9780307807793. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- Beverley, James (May 19, 2009). Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions: A Comprehensive Introduction to the Religions of the World. Thomas Nelson Inc. pp. 397–. ISBN 9781418577469. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- "Recipient's Common Interest in Subject of Work Does Not Limit Publication". Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal. 67 (1645). Bureau of National Affairs (BNA): 16–17. 2003.
- Boa, Kenneth; Bowman, Robert M. (1997). An Unchanging Faith in a Changing World: Understanding and Responding to Critical Issues that Christians Face Today. Oliver Nelson. ISBN 9780785273523. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
- van IJssel, Suzette. "The Imminent Heaven: Spiritual Post-Metaphysics and Ethics in a Postmodern Era". Archived from the original on June 21, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
- Hammer (2021: p. 450)
- "Helen Schucman's Career".
- "A Course in Miracles Book ACIM Lessons Online and Text". ACIM Portal. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
- Helen Schucman: Autobiography, in "Origins of A Course in Miracles" 3:27–28. Foundation for Inner Peace Archives, Tiburon, CA).
- ^ Hammer, Olav (2021) . Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Numen Book Series. Brill. p. 153. ISBN 978-90-04-49399-5. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
A Course in Miracles is said to have been channeled from a discarnate entity perceived as Jesus but never explicitly named as such in the ensuing text.
- ^ Kemp, Daren (March 2004). "A COURSE IN MIRACLES". In Clarke, Peter (ed.). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-134-49970-0.
- Skutch, Robert. Journey Without Distance: The Story Behind A Course in Miracles. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 1984, p. 58.
- "The Scribe: Helen Schucman and A Course in Miracles©". www.miraclestudies.net.
- ^ Joseph, Simon J. (March 22, 2017). "'Knowledge is Truth': A Course in Miracles as Neo-Gnostic Scripture". GNOSIS. 2 (1). Brill: 94–125. doi:10.1163/2451859x-12340028. ISSN 2451-8581.
- "ACIM Translations". Foundation for Inner Peace. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- Bradby, Ruth (2010). "A course in miracles in Ireland". In Cosgrove, Olivia; Cox, Laurence; Kuhling, Carmen; Mulholland, Peter (eds.). Ireland's New Religious Movements. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 147–162. ISBN 978-1-4438-2615-0. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
- Dean C. Halverson, "Seeing Yourself as Sinless", SCP Journal 7, no. 1 (1987): 23.
- Groeschel, Benedict J., A Still Small Voice (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993) p. 80
- Groeschel, Benedict J., A Still Small Voice (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993) p. 82.
- Hammer (2021: 444)
- Hammer (2021: 55)
- Miracles with Counselors, David Aldrich Osgood, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1991), Transpersonal Psychology and A Course in Miracles P.43 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5794&context=dissertations_1
- Heti, Sheila (September 2024). "The New Age Bible". Harper's Magazine. p. 48.
- Butler-Bowdon, Tom.50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom From 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2010. p. 223.
- Butler-Bowdon, Tom. The Literature of Possibility. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2013. p. 223.
- Coburn, Lorri. Breaking Free: How Forgiveness and A Course in Miracles Can Set You Free. Balboa Press, 2011. p. 193.
- Wilson, Brandy (July 29, 2006). "Community of Faith: News from Houses of Worship: 'Disappearance of Universe' author to host workshop". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- Garrett, Lynn (March 7, 2005). "'Disappearance' Appears Big Time". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
External links
- Editions in public domain:
- Urtext Edition – Published by Miracles in Action Press
- Sparkly Edition – Published by Diamond Clear
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