1965: On October 21, the scribing of A Course in Miracles begins when Dr. Helen Schucman, an academic medical psychologist, hears a Voice that clearly states, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” She and her close colleague and supervisor, Dr. William Thetford, commence the seven-year process of taking down first the Text, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for Teachers. They meet in private each morning in the back of Bill’s office at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City to review and transcribe the material that Helen received the previous night from what she referred to as “the Voice” (which she identified as that of Jesus).
1972: Dr. Kenneth Wapnick, a psychologist, is introduced to Helen, Bill, and the Course. Over the next three years, he works closely with Helen and “the Voice” to bring the Course into its final form.
1975: On May 29, 1975, Judith Skutch is introduced to Helen and Bill over lunch by a mutual acquaintance. After exploring common interests, Judith turns to Helen and inexplicably asks, “You’re hearing an inner voice, aren’t you?” Bill suggests they adjourn to his office where Judith meets Ken and sees the Course for the first time. It is a defining moment for her as she realizes it is “her map home.”
Over the next few weeks, the group becomes bound together by their common enthusiasm for this remarkable spiritual teaching. They begin meeting regularly to study and discuss it. Within months it becomes apparent to them that this document is meant to be shared with all who found it beneficial or of interest. And so the decision is made—collectively and internally guided—to publish A Course in Miracles through a non-profit foundation run by Judith and her then-husband, Robert Skutch. However, their Foundation is to be given a new and more appropriate name, “Foundation for Inner Peace,” reflecting its new role as trustee of the Course. In keeping with the guidance of “the Voice,” Helen turns over the care and copyright of A Course in Miracles to this Foundation.
The first edition of A Course in Miracles is copyrighted and published in the late summer of 1975. It is a reduced-size, softcover offset production of the manuscript printed in four separate volumes. Over the next six months, a total of 300 sets of these books are printed.
1976: Demand for A Course in Miracles continues to grow. On February 14, “the Voice” gives the group specific guidance to proceed with publication of a hardcover edition. Although many publishers make offers, it soon becomes clear through guidance that the Foundation for Inner Peace will itself be responsible for printing and distributing the Course. On June 22 the first three-volume hardcover edition of 5,000 copies is released.
Later in the year, the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) publishes the first of two supplements to the Course scribed by Helen titled “Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice.”
1978: The Foundation for Inner Peace moves its offices from New York City to Tiburon, California.
The Foundation publishes the second of the two supplements scribed by Helen: “The Song of Prayer: Prayer, Forgiveness, Healing.”
Helen delivers a personal message of guidance for the Foundation for Inner Peace from Jesus. It states that the Foundation is not only to publish and distribute A Course in Miracles, but also to “discuss” it — that is, teach it. Dr. Kenneth Wapnick is designated as the group member who will be primarily involved with teaching the Course’s message as part of the Foundation’s overall activities.
1982: The Foundation publishes The Gifts of God: Poems by the Scribe of A Course in Miracles. In the coming years, the Foundation will also produce other Course-related material such as documentaries and readings from the Course on video and audio cassette, Workbook lesson cards, and a complete concordance referencing all words contained in the Course.
1983: In order to facilitate the specific teaching function assigned to him, Ken and his wife Gloria found the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM).
1984: Judith’s daughter, Tamara Cohen Morgan, begins working for the Foundation for Inner Peace, taking on the development of special projects.
1988: The Wapnicks relocate FACIM to Roscoe, New York and establish an Academy and Retreat Center there.
1992: Marianne Williamson publishes A Return to Love, which is based on the Course’s teachings. The book becomes a best-seller and interest in the Course spreads rapidly worldwide.
To address growing international interest, the Foundation establishes its translation program under the guidance of Judith’s husband, Dr. William W. Whitson. Dr. Ken Wapnick takes responsibility for rigorously training the translators in the Course’s principles. The first translation is the Spanish, which is released this year.
The Second Edition of the English A Course in Miracles is published. It includes for the first time a complete superscript paragraph-and-line numbering system. In producing it, Ken Wapnick reviewed previous drafts of the Course in order to correct typos and insert material that had been inadvertently omitted from the First Edition.
1993: Dr. Bob Rosenthal joins the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Inner Peace.
1994: The German translation of the Course is published.
1995: FACIM establishes the “Institute for Teaching Inner Peace through A Course in Miracles” as an accredited teaching institute incorporated under New York State’s Education Law and chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.
The Foundation launches its first website.
The Portuguese translation of the Course is published.
1996: Under guidance, the Foundation for Inner Peace grants Penguin Books the rights to publish the Course on the promise that they can more than triple its outreach.
Penguin Books files a copyright infringement lawsuit against the New Christian Church of Full Endeavor and Endeavor Academy. The lawsuit is prompted by Endeavor’s having published without permission pamphlets containing excerpts from the Course intermixed with passages from the New Testament. These are inserted directly into the material, potentially confusing readers and contrary to the guidance of Helen’s “Voice.”
In the course of the seven-year trial, Endeavor, under rules of discovery, learns of earlier drafts of the Course and requests permission to view them. Shortly thereafter a rough draft of the Text dating from 1972 (which Helen and Bill had gifted to Hugh Lynn Cayce) disappears from a locked room in the A.R.E. library. The first transcription of Helen’s shorthand notes—a very rough manuscript known as the Urtext—is borrowed from the Library of Congress, illegally photocopied and posted widely on the internet.
The Hebrew translation of the Course is published.
1997: The Chinese (Traditional Font) translation of the Course is published.
The Russian translation of the Course is published.
A Concordance referencing all words in A Course in Miracles is published.
1998: In recognition of the two Foundations’ shared purpose and common origins, the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) assigns and conveys all copyrights and service marks in A Course in Miracles to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM). This allows FIP to focus more closely on the tasks of printing and distributing the Course and on its burgeoning Translation Program.
1999: The Dutch translation of the Course is published.
The Italian translation of the Course is published.
2001: FACIM moves its Teaching Center and operations from Roscoe, New York to Temecula, California.
The Danish translation of the Course is published.
2002: The Finnish translation of the Course is published.
2003: On October 24, Judge Robert Sweet of the Southern District of New York rules in the Endeavor lawsuit that the Course had been in the public domain when first published and that its original copyright is therefore invalid. His court order voids the 1975 copyright. Despite misinformation widely posted on the internet, only the copyright to the first four-volume edition is reversed. All others remain unaffected.
The Slovene translation of the Course is published.
2004: The Swedish translation of the Course is published.
2005: The Croatian translation of the Course is published.
The French translation of the Course is published.
2006: The Bulgarian translation of the Course is published.
The Afrikaans translation of the Course is published (as an e-book only).
2007: The Third Combined Edition of the English A Course in Miracles is released. It contains for the first time all writings that Helen Schucman authorized to be published: the original three volumes of the Course, Helen’s Preface, the Clarification of Terms, and the two Supplements “Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice” from 1976 and “Song of Prayer” from 1978.
The Polish translation of the Course is published.
2008: The Romanian translation of the Course is published.
2010: The Norwegian translation of the Course is published.
2011: The Chinese (Simplified Font) translation of the Course is published.
2012: The Czech translation of the Course is published.
The Foundation for Inner Peace hosts a three-day Translators Gratitude Gathering. Course translators from all over the world converge on Tiburon, CA to share their stories, reconnect with Ken and Whit and have a good time.
2013: The death of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick occurs on December 27, 2013. The Foundation for A Course in Miracles continues on under the guidance of his wife, Gloria. Its goal is to preserve and maintain the vast body of work left by Dr. Wapnick. Read Memorial Tributes to Ken.
The Hungarian translation of the Course is published.
2014: In Germany, a final decision is rendered in a new copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Ken and FACIM against Endeavor Academy. The German appellate court rules contrary to the 2003 Sweet decision that all copyrights held by FACIM for all editions of A Course in Miracles remain valid in Germany (and by extension throughout the European Union). The court awards damages to FACIM against Endeavor, which FACIM chooses to forgive.
Because of Ken’s death, the copyrights to A Course in Miracles and its translations along with certain Course-related trademarks are transferred from the Foundation for A Course in Miracles back to the Foundation for Inner Peace.
The Japanese translation of the Course is published.
The second Edition in Portuguese, including a revision in grammar and for compliance with the New Orthographic Deal among Portuguese speaking countries, is published.
2015: The Korean translation of the Course is published.
The Greek translation of the Course is published.
2016: The Foundation for Inner Peace appoints Dr. Robert Rosenthal, board member and longtime student and teacher of the Course, and Tamara Morgan, Project Director from 1984-2010, former Vice-President of Communications, published author, and Judith Skutch Whitson’s daughter, to serve as Co-Presidents of the Foundation.
The Estonian translation of the Course is published.
2017: The Turkish translation of the Course is completed.
2018: Dr. William W. Whitson’s death occurs on February 8. The Foundation honors and thanks him for his invaluable contributions over the past forty years, in particular to our Translation Program which he established and supervised in collaboration with Ken Wapnick.
The Revised Russian translation of the Course is published.
The Revised Spanish translation of the Course is published.
2019: The Turkish translation of the Course (e-Book) is published.
2021: The Web Edition of A Course in Miracles is published.
See also the Translation Program Timeline.
