Page:Penguin Books v. New Christian Church of Full Endeavor.pdf/6

 currently published by Penguin in a single volume over a thousand pages in length, is divided into three sections: the text ("Text"), a workbook for students ("Workbook"), and a manual for teachers ("Manual"). The Course can loosely be categorized as belonging to that genre of "New Age" spiritual texts which seem to pop out of the post-industrial cultures of the northern hemisphere like the quarks which particle physicists tell us materialize spontaneously in the fabric of space-time. Nevertheless, despite its New Age trappings, the Course is explicitly grounded in Christian theology. Its somewhat bewildered, bewildering, yet not terribly novel message appears to be that the world humans perceive with their senses is merely an illusion projected by our minds outside of ourselves, and that the true world is "God," who is love, which is "all there is." This is an admittedly subjective summation, but perhaps more informative than the cryptic summation provided in the Course itself: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."

Perhaps not surprisingly in this day and age, the Course has developed a substantial following. Well over a million copies have been printed, and multiple foreign-language editions exist, with more planned for the near future. Teachers, lecturers, and study groups flourish, and a steady stream of books, pamphlets,