Schucman, Helen

Helen Schucman (July 14, 1909 – February 9, 1981) was an American clinical and research psychologist from New York City. She was a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University in New York from 1958 until her retirement in 1976. Schucman is best known for having "scribed" with the help of colleague William Thetford the book A Course in Miracles (1975), the contents of which she claimed to have been given to her by an inner voice she identified as Jesus. However, her role as its "writer" was not revealed, as per her request, until her death.

The story of the Course began when Columbia University research psychologist Dr. William T. Thetford decided he had had enough of the intensely competitive and negative climate he was experiencing and declared to his colleague, Dr. Helen Schucman, "There must be another way, and I am determined to find it. She agreed to help. What ensued was a dramatic progression of waking dreams for Schucman, which culminated in October of 1965 with her experience of a voice which spoke clearly in her mind, saying, "This is a course in miracles. Please take notes."