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A Course in Miracles (the "Course") was first published in book form in 1975 by the Foundation for Inner Peace ("FIP"). The Course consists of three main parts: the Text, the Workbook for Students and the Manual for Teachers, with a brief additional section titled Clarification of Terms. A Course in Miracles is currently published by the Foundation For Inner Peace under license from the Foundation for A Course In Miracles ("FACIM"), the owner of the copyright for certain parts of the material. FACIM has also registered a federal trademark for the designation "A Course In Miracles." More than 1.3 million copies of A Course in Miracles have been printed and sold since 1976. According to
its own plain and unambiguous statements, the words of A Course
in Miracles are the words of Jesus Christ communicated through
the united efforts of Helen Schucman and William Thetford. The
story of the scribing of A Course in Miracles is contained
in abridged form in the Preface to the Second Edition and in
greater detail in other publications. What ensued was a dramatic progression of waking dreams for Schucman, which culminated in her experiencing a voice which spoke clearly in her mind. With Thetford's support and assistance in transcribing her shorthand notes, Schucman took down, over a period of seven years, some 1,500 typewritten pages which became A Course in Miracles. Schucman did not claim to be the author of the material herself. As she often explained, she heard what she called a kind of "inner dictation," and she felt compelled to write it down, even though at times she disagreed with the content and resisted the process. The voice which spoke through Helen clearly identified himself as Jesus. The Course itself states, however, that it is not necessary to accept Jesus as your teacher: "It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life." (From the "Manual for Teachers"). |
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The Hugh Lynn Cayce Version
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During the time that Helen was involved in the scribing process, she was introduced to the writings of the renowned clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce. Helen, encouraged by Bill Thetford, made contact with Edgar's son, Hugh Lynn Cayce. They showed him a copy of the then as-yet-incomplete manuscript. According to Robert Skutch, writing in Journey Without Distance, Cayce felt that the work was "tremendously important" and that the material had the potential for changing millions of lives. Later, after the scribing was completed, Helen and Bill presented a copy to Hugh Lynn Cayce, which, incidentally, was the manuscript originally given to Kenneth Wapnick, one of the editors of the commercially published version. The manuscript which had been given to Hugh Lynn Cayce was thenceforth referred to by the editors as the "Hugh Lynn Cayce" or "HLC" version. Hugh Lynn's copy was eventually placed in the public research section of the Edgar Cayce Foundation / Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach, VA in March, 1976. After Hugh Lynn Cayce received the completed manuscript, A Course in Miracles was subjected to further editing by Kenneth Wapnick and Helen Schucman. As a result of that later editing, some 25 percent of the Hugh Lynn version was deleted from the first five chapters of the work and additional changes were made throughout. The resulting derivation, was eventually copyrighted by FIP in 1975 when the Criswell edition was published. FIP transferred the copyright to FACIM in 1998. |
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The Copyright Litigation |
In the late 1990s continuing through 2004, a series of lawsuits were brought by FACIM and FIP against a number of organizations (including CIMS) and individuals based upon alleged infringement of the copyrights that FACIM claimed to hold on A Course in Miracles. Eventually, the lawsuits resulted in a decision entered in April 2004, by Judge Sweet of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who ruled that the earliest versions of the book A Course in Miracles (including the Hugh Lynn Cayce version and the Nun's Version which had been published in photo-reduced format as "the Criswell Edition") had been placed into the public domain in 1973-75, prior to the printing of the Criswell Edition. As a result, the registered copyright presumed to protect the earliest versions of the work (No. A693944) was rendered void. FACIM still claims a copyright for portions of the published "standard" version of A Course in Miracles, principally the numbering system, the "Clarification of Terms" and the Preface. The main body of the work, however (the Text, Workbook and Manual For Teachers), is derived from a public domain document, so that the claimed copyright only covers the edits and changes to the public domain work and does not displace or replace the public domain status of the work that is in the A.R.E. Library and which was published by CIMS as Jesus' Course in MIracles. The litigation between CIMS and FACIM was concluded with an agreed settlement which permitted CIMS to resume publication of the JCIM. A copy of the public domain Hugh Lynn version of the Text portion of A Course in Miracles was obtained, transcribed into a digital format and widely distributed on the internet. The Text which appears in Jesus' Course in Miracles was in early 2000 reproduced from the widely available digital copy of the Hugh Lynn Cayce manuscript, which CIMS considers to be the most authoritative version of Jesus' dictation to Helen Schucman obtainable today. The only changes that have been made from the internet version have been the addition of formatting for print media. |
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Jesus' Course in Miracles  TM |
In addition to the authoritative HLC manuscript, Jesus' Course in Miracles also contains an Appendix which compares the HLC manuscript with the popular Second Edition of A Course in Miracles. Here is a sampling of comments from Course students who have had an opportunity to read the Hugh Lynn Cayce manuscript:
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