|
I’d like to recommend the New, Complete and Annotated Edition of A Course in Miracles, based on original handwritten notes, from the Circle of Atonement: http://www.acim.circleofa.org
I helped in a small way with the proof-reading of this new edition, and I’m excited to recommend it to anyone interested in A Course in Miracles. I wrote this endorsement, which appears on the website: The definitive edition of the CourseRobert Perry has done students of ACIM an invaluable service. This is the edition of the Course I have wanted for years—ever since I realized that the words of Jesus given to Helen Schucman had been edited. I wanted to know what he said, not what someone else thought he should have said. It turns out it makes an incredible difference. Not that it changes the central message of A Course in Miracles—no, not that. But it makes it much clearer. It changes the emphasis in many places (the emphasis Jesus’ voice had, which Helen and Bill recorded in ALL CAPS in their typescript, is here preserved with subtle underlining) and in a few instances completely flips the sense of a sentence. This is the original stuff! To Course students, opening this edition is like a Bible scholar finding a first-century Greek manuscript of one of the gospels. Add to that all the material from the original notes that was totally left out of the popular edition of the Course, cross references, Bible references, explanatory footnotes, and Robert Perry’s illuminating cameo essays about that extra material, and you have a book that Course students will treasure and study passionately. This is the definitive edition of A Course in Miracles. I intend to use the Circle Edition in all my study groups from now on. — Allen Watson, author of A Workbook Companion: Commentaries on the Workbook for Students from ‘A Course in Miracles’
3 Comments
Patricia Beckerman
3/1/2017 12:24:45 pm
I have ordered this new edition. I've been a student of the Course since the '80's. I have read a lot of the content on the Website, and I am very, very impressed with Robert Perry's lucidity. I had no doubt that I wanted this edition. However, and I'm not saying that reading this is changing my mind, a friend of mine who studies the Course as well got into a discussion with someone on Facebook, who claims that the notes that Perry used were stolen. Can you comment on this, please.
Allen Watson
3/2/2017 01:06:47 pm
I don't have a definitive answer to the claim that the notes were stolen. But my understanding is as follows: The copyright case that freed the first edition of the course from copyright covered that edition and all earlier versions. That included the Urtext and shorthand notes. I do not know how a photocopy of the notes made it on to the Internet, but essentially, once that happened, they were in the public domain. Robert Perry certainly did not steal anything. He has the explicit permission of the Foundation for Inner Peace to publish what he has included in the Complete and Annotated Edition.
Alan Sindler
4/12/2017 01:55:12 pm
I just received my copy from Amazon. As someone who had always maintained the "FIP" is the version Jesus intended for us to have, I must say that I have modified my view after reading how and why this current version came into being. I had believed that the only edits in the FIP were the removal of personal information meant for Helen and Bill, along with some grammatical cleanups, I've now come to understand that all the subsequent edits from the notes to the Urtext, to the HLC version, and on through the various incarnations of the FIP versions, didn't reference back to the original notes, but instead relied on the version preceding it. While I fully believe it was unintentional, the result was the omission of a lot of original dictation which I believe Jesus dictated for a reason. I think any version of the Course, when dutifully studied and practiced, will lead the learner back "Home". I'm further convinced that the FIP, being the most widely used, had, and still has a distinct purpose. I am now convinced, however, that COA version is the truest to the original dictation given to Helen, with the added benefit of editing and light commentary making it easier to read and understand. I wouldn't have guessed, years ago, that I would come to this, but I believe this is the most authentic, complete and understandable version to date. Thank you Helen, Bill, and Ken for giving us the FIP version to bring us to this point, and thank you COA for bringing it full circle, back to Helen's original notes, but with the clarity the new editing process additionally brings to this newest edition. Leave a Reply. |
Author: allen watsonI lead a weekly study group in A Course in Miracles at Unity Church of Portland. I formerly worked with Robert Perry in The Circle of Atonement, a teaching and healing organization focused on A Course in Miracles and based in Sedona, Arizona. Prior to that I worked as a computer programmer, trainer, system manager, and consultant on VAX/VMS computers. I'm now retired, still writing, and living in Portland with my wife, Peggy Baldwin, enjoying genealogy and Bible study as hobbies. Archives
August 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed