Case Study: Helen Schucman

 

Today I am going to present a case study of a person who believes and claims that God does give new revelation about himself today. This person is Helen Schucman. Have you heard of her? If not, you’ve probably been exposed to her teachings through an author and speaker named Marianne Williamson.

Marianne Williamson is the author of many New Age books such as Illuminata: A Return to Prayer, The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife, and the most widely known, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles.” Marianne currently has her own daily radio show on the Oprah channel for XM Satellite radio. On the show she shares her insights from A Course in Miracles and helps listeners apply these spiritual teachings to their everyday lives.[i] Moreover, Williamson writes articles and blogs for Oprah.com.

What is important to know is that Williamson’s book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”, is a revamp of teachings from 1965 by Columbia University professor of Medical Psychology Helen Schucman.[ii] Schucman has said to have heard an “inner voice”, claiming to be Jesus Christ, say to her: “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.”[iii] After seven years of writing down what the inner voice told her, Schucman created A Course in Miracles. The course teaches that God’s love is in everyone and everything, that we can be divine because Christ is within us, and that sin is an illusion.[iv] Read the following statements from A Course in Miracles:

 

 

• “God is in everything I see.”[v]
• “God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we are a part of Him.”[vi]
• “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There is no separation of God and His creation.”[vii]

 

These statements clearly show that A Course in Miracles is pantheistic.

Warren Smith, who was once a New Ager but is now a Christian, writes about Schucman in his book Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel:

 

In the seven and a half years of cumulative dictation that became A Course in Miracles, Schucman’s “Jesus” presents a whole new way of looking at the world. Using Christian terminology, sophisticated psychology, and convincing authority, Schucman’s “Jesus” teaches a completely different gospel than the one found in the Bible. His “new gospel” wholly contradicts the Bible’s Gospel of Jesus Christ. Schucman’s “inner voice,” while claiming to be Jesus, actually opposes everything for which the Bible’s Jesus stands.[viii]

What a perfect example of Matthew 24:5 which says, ” For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” In 1975, Schucman’s A Course in Miracles was published and had a small following through the 1980’s. However, it wasn’t until Marianne Williamson embraced Schucman’s teaching and wrote A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” that it really took off. In 1992, Marianne was featured and endorsed on the Oprah Winfrey Show, thus spreading Schucman’s false teaching of Jesus Christ across the world.[ix]

Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians:

 

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:6-9, NIV)

Helen Schucman is teaching another gospel different than what is taught in the Bible. Paul clearly demonstrates in this passage that people will try to pervert the gospel of Christ. If what is taught is different than what the Bible teachings about Christ, then it is false. We clearly see that this is the case with Schucman and Williamson’s teachings. For instance, Christ did not teach that sin is an illusion. If He did, then why did He die on the cross to free us from sin?

What do you think? Please leave comments! Stay tuned in for the next few blog posts where I will continue this discussion …

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[i] http://xmradio.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=1550, accessed 8/6/09

[ii] Smith, Warren. Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel. (Ravenna:Conscience Press, 2002), 9.

[iii] Skutch, Robert. Journey without Distance: The Story behind “A Course in Miracles” (Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 1984), 54.

[iv] Smith, 10.

[v] A Course in Miracles. Vol. 2, Workbook for Students. (Tiburon: Foundation for Inner peace, 1975), 45.

[vi] Ibid, 92.

[vii] A Course in Miracles. Vol. 1, Text. (Tiburon: Foundation for Inner peace, 1975), 136.

[viii] Smith, 10.

[ix] Smith, 10-11.