Jesus Christ is claimed to be the source of the three-volume self-study book of spiritual psychotherapy known as A Course In Miracles. Some people believe this to literally be the case. That is, some people believe that A Course In Miracles is the result of literal communication between Jesus Christ and Helen Schucman, psychologist and "scribe" of "The Course". Others, however, believe that Jesus Christ is actually the symbolic source of "The Course", and that the Course is not the result of any literal communication between the disembodied entity of "Jesus Christ" and the then-living person of Helen Schucman

"(It) is important for students of the Course not to confuse the voice Helen Schucman heard and identified as Jesus’, with the Jesus of traditional Christianity, nor to associate it with any particular image in form. The Course uses the term Jesus and the Holy Spirit as symbols reflecting the part of the mind of the Sonship that holds the memory of God. They are not real persons.." Faculty of Foundation for A Course In Miracles as published on their Question and Answer Internet forum .

The issue

Jesus Christ as "Symbolic" source of A Course In Miracles

In the Manual for Teachers, it is stated, "The name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol" . Kenneth Wapnick has stated that Helen Schucman never literally heard the voice of Jesus Christ , and she never meant that A Course In Miracles was literally channeled from Jesus Christ. (Wapnick also notes that Schucman never used the word "channel" to describe the process. She exclusively used the term "scribe.") This distinguishes A Course In Miracles from New Age and paranormal materials that

Helen Schucman used the term "Jesus" as a name and symbol for that aspect of her own mind, and she claimed that all human beings possess this in themselves. (It is claimed that one of the intentions of A Course In Miracles is to facilitate a stronger relationship between the student and that compassionate aspect of his own mind.) It can thus be stated the A Course In Miracles is "symbolically" channeled from Jesus Christ.

The Manual for Teachers also states, "Words are but symbols of symbols, they are thus twice removed from reality." It is claimed that by practicing A Course In Miracles, the student comes to realize that the term and the man "Jesus Christ" are ultimately purely symbolic and aspects of the student's mind. In this view, Jesus Christ is but a concept in the mind. It is claimed that further investigation in this topic ultimately reveals to the student that his own identity is merely symbolic as well.

Jesus Christ as "literal" source of A Course In Miracles

Some students and teachers of A Course In Miracles believe that A Course In Miracles is the result of a literal communication between Helen Schucman and the historical Jesus Christ, the central figure of mainstream Christianity of the last two millennia.

Relevance with regard to ACIM copyright controversy

In the mid-1990s, the Foundation for A Course In Miracles was sued by members of the Endeavor Academy, a Course-based teaching institution, over the legitimacy of the copyright of A Course In Miracles. The Endeavor Academy claimed that one cannot hold the copyright to a work that was "channeled from a disembodied entity". In response, Kenneth Wapnick stated that Helen Schucman never literally meant that Jesus Christ was the source of A Course In Miracles, but that "Jesus" is a symbol. (Kenneth Wapnick has noted in many of his books, such as "The Message of A Course In Miracles," that when the student realizes that Jesus is only a symbol and ultimately an illusion, the student soon after realizes that his own identity is also ultimately only a symbol and an illusion.)

Helen Schucman's personal perspective on ACIM's authorship

See also