A Course in Miracles - Reception

Reception

Since it first became available for sale in 1976, over 2 million copies of A Course in Miracles have been sold worldwide and the text has been translated into sixteen different languages. A Course In Miracles (ACIM) is widely distributed globally, forming the basis of a range of organized groups. The teachings of A Course in Miracles have been supported by commentators and authors such as Eckhart Tolle. However, due to ACIM's claims to "clarify" or even supersede some of the teachings of orthodox Christianity, the book has predictably been judged negatively by some Christians.

Although a friend of Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnik, Benedict J. Groeschel has since criticized ACIM and the related organizations. Finding some elements of the Course to be what he called, "severe and potentially dangerous distortions of Christian theology", he wrote that the Course is “a good example of a false revelation” and that “it has . . . become a spiritual menace to many.”

Other Christian authors, such as evangelical Bob Larson, have similarly criticized A Course In Miracles, saying it contradicts basic tenets of Christianity, twisting its core teachings and "deceiving people who are sincerely looking for God." Larson also criticizes ACIM popularizer Marianne Williamson personally, saying that her work on behalf of ACIM denies "essential qualities of faith" such as guilt and forgiveness, and necessitates the Biblically forbidden practice of transpossession mediumship.

Evangelical editor Elliot Miller says that Christian terminology employed in ACIM is "thoroughly redefined" to resemble New Age teachings. Other Christian critics say ACIM is "intensely anti-Biblical" and incompatible with Christianity, blurring the distinction between creator and created and forcefully supporting the occult and New Age world view.

Theologian Anton van Harskamp notes that the metaphysics of A Course in Miracles is inconsistent with that of Christianity in that its “story of creation is totally different from the Christian one.” Accordingly to van Harskamp, in looking at "the suffering in the world, 'the Course' says that this world cannot be created by a God.” In the Christian conception “creation is good” “but at the same time it is impossible to say this about everything that exists.”

Skeptic Robert T. Carroll criticizes ACIM as "a minor industry" that is overly commercialized and characterizes it as "Christianity improved", saying its teachings are not original and suggesting they are culled from "various sources, east and west".

Despite the high level of criticism that ACIM has received from many Christian theologians and authors, other theologians, both Catholics and Protestants, including Evangelicals, have given ACIM high marks and "glowing endorsements". In summary, while ACIM's teachings have been heavily denounced by most Christian theologians, the reception has not been uniform or monolithic among Christian clergy and authors. This conflict is anticipated in the Course's Introduction to Clarification of Terms. "They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed."