Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International

Greetings! The following review of my memoir, Undertow , was first published by the International Cultic Studies Association on 02-26-2024. Enjoy!   As part of our mission to support scholars, mental health professionals, and former cultic group members and their families, ICSA Reviews publishes, via email, social media, and in print, reviews of new and recent books and other media dealing with cults and coercive control.   Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International   by Charlene L. Edge   New Wings Press, LLC, 2017. ISBN-10:  0997874708; ISBN-13:   978-0997874709. Paperback, 474 pages, $24.95. Kindle, $8.49. Amazon.com   Reviewed by Bart Stewart   Undertow may be looked back on someday as an im

Photo by Eduardo Wall. The City of Los Angeles, California.  Launched in L.A.: The Campaign of Christian Fundamentalism When I began writing my memoir,  Undertow , I wanted to bring to the foreground the fundamentalist aspect of the group I was in, The Way International. Why? Is something wrong with fundamentalism? I say “yes.” My story shows serious drawbacks in the fundamentalist approach to Scripture and its detrimental effects on adherents. Note:  Strangely, some ex-Way followers have argued that The Way International is not fundamentalist, but rather a destructive cult that promotes a patchwork of plagiarized teachings that Victor Paul Wierwille (1916 – 1985) put together.  I agree that Wierwille did conduct a cult, and was a controlling cult leader, but I’m here to say that The Way is ALSO fundamentalist. Why: Because of Victor Paul Wierwille's non-negotiable belief in  inerrancy  of the Scriptures. He founded The Way and produced bible teachings (many plagiarized) still