A Course in Miracles (also referred to as ACIM or the Course) is a self-study curriculum (spiritual in nature) that sets forth a pure non-dualistic metaphysics yet integrates (its definition of the principle of) forgiveness emphasizing its practical application in daily living.[1]




There is no author listed on either the cover or the title page of the copyrighted publication, nor is there a "personal name" listed for author/creator with the United States Library of Congress. However, in the Preface of the Course, under the section entitled "How It Came," there is a first-person account by Helen Schucman[2] who describes in her own words the process by which the material came to fruition. Schucman claimed to have written the material, with the help of William Thetford, based on the dictation of an inner Voice. In the last paragraph of this section, Shucman explains why the names of the collaborators do not appear on the cover.[3]



The most recent copyrighted, published edition of A Course in Miracles is the only edition that contains in one place all of the writings that Schucman authorized to be printed. It is published solely by the Foundation for Inner Peace, 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: 1) Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice; and 2) The Song of Prayer (see image and infobox to right).
Judith Skutch Whitson,[4] President and Chairperson of the Foundation for Inner Peace, reports that nearly two million volumes of A Course in Miracles have been published and disseminated worldwide[5] since it first became available for sale in 1976. Additionally, A Course in Miracles has been translated into nineteen different languages with eight new translations underway.[6]