Celebrating 10 Years of Undertow
THe following Endorsements are found in the front pages of the book, Undertow.
Praise for
Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International
“In Undertow, Charlene Edge has written a brilliant and engrossing warning to the future by dissecting the past. There are really two books here: one is on a cult called The Way (one of the largest fundamentalist cults in America with about 40,000 followers [in its heyday]). The second book is an examination of the dynamics of all personality, religious, and political cults. By looking (from a heart-wrenching insider’s point of view) at a misuse of power in one specific group, Edge has written a book that unpacks a far greater truth. What she exposes to bright liberating daylight is just how our political and religious worlds actually function based on the mesmerizing enticement of belonging to an in-group. This is a brilliantly written and timely warning against falling into the trap of thinking we’re the self-proclaimed ‘chosen’ (be that religious or secular, left or right) as we exclude the feared ‘Other.’” —Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and New York Times best-selling author of Keeping Faith
“A magnificently written life story that sheds light on the enticing ways of cult recruitment and indoctrination that engender conformity, obedience, and loss of self. Nevertheless, thankfully, the seed of doubt grows, as the author strives for acceptance through hard work and deep faith. Edge’s prose captures the essence of cult life and the personal devastation of having to acknowledge not only corruption and plagiarized teachings but also a ‘sex ring’ at the top levels of leadership. An important and must-read book—more gripping than a mystery. Undertow will sweep you away.” —Janja Lalich, PhD, Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico, author of Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults
“This thoughtful, beautifully written memoir is a window into the gradual but compelling pull cults have on unsuspecting and well-meaning people of faith. Edge’s writing conveys images that invite the reader to a particular moment in US History and the fascinating development of a community seeking to impact the world as they perceived it. Undertow is an honest and affecting look at the way evangelical movements perceive their world and their duty in it. One gets the impression Edge wants to run back in time and tell that young, intelligent girl to reconsider her worldview. What Edge has created here is a welcome voice of reason for those who would be tempted by similar visions of evangelism and the accompanying claim that an original version of Christianity existed and could ever be accessible or fully intelligible to Christians today. The narrative she pushes against is one that continues to lay claim to evangelicals in our world. It is a worldview in which every moment is interpretable as a reaffirmation of ‘us vs. world,’ rendering a perspective and promulgated purpose that is hard to fathom if one has never experienced it. Edge’s fascinating text gets us as close as one could hope to be. It is a worthwhile read, brimming with insight into a world many of us claim we could never understand. Edge lifts the veil on the power a community can have when discourse and ideology fuse.”—Todd French, PhD, Assistant Professor of Religion at Rollins College
“In Undertow, Charlene Edge manages to bring to life the inexorable, age-old struggle of light triumphing over darkness, of the search for truth in the misty range of a ‘false prophet’s’ deception which she encountered firsthand as a research assistant in The Way International. While she was promised liberty, she found herself a ‘servant of corruption’ (2 Peter 2:19). Ms. Edge’s heartfelt and earnest journey will leave you in awe of what the human spirit can conquer when it launches out in the search for truth. Well-written, compelling, and inspiring.”—Kristen Skedgell, author of Losing the Way
“How could a smart woman join a cult that asked of her everything, and took her all in the process? Charlene Edge walks us through the process with her new book, Undertow, which chronicles her involvement in The Way International, an Ohio-based ‘Bible research’ organization whose founder, Victor Paul Wierwille, was accused of multiple sexual improprieties, as well as plagiarism, before he died in 1985. As you read Charlene’s story, you’ll find yourself wanting to reach into the pages to pull the author out of harm’s way. As she writes, ‘We, the crippled, were sent to heal the stricken.’ There is something in this book for anyone who has ever wholeheartedly embraced a questionable theology, only to find that what was meant as a salve eventually becomes a sword.”—Susan Campbell, author of Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl
“Undertow is a gift to young people and their families who want to understand the inner workings of fundamentalist cults. Charlene Edge’s experience parallels much of my own twelve years as a follower of Victor Paul Wierwille’s ministry. Undertow sheds light on the decisions, questions, and longings that she encountered, and ultimately worked her way through. In the words of Canadian author Matshona Dhliwayo, ‘Books are kinder teachers than experience.’ May Undertow be a kinder teacher to you than Charlene’s seventeen years in The Way International were to her.” —Steve Muratore, publisher of award-winning political blog the Arizona Eagletarian
“Charlene Edge’s heartfelt and heartbreaking memoir takes us behind the scenes to reveal how easily a handful of religious charlatans betrayed the trust placed in their hands. The pain is palpable as Edge walks readers through her seventeen years of virtual imprisonment by cult leaders who twisted the Word of God to psychologically and even physically abuse thousands of young people at The Way International. Undertow is a disturbing reminder that abuse of power can and does happen anywhere.”—Robert Ruff, Emmy Award-winning television news producer
“A fascinating insider’s account of day-to-day life inside a cult, which with its endless sacrifices, compromises, and increasingly convoluted doublethink, is not so unlike what an ambitious middle manager in any other large corporate enterprise experiences. With a novelist’s eye for the telling detail, Charlene Edge describes the vulnerabilities that led her to join The Way International as a confused and emotionally needy college dropout in the early 1970s—and the growing disillusionment that led her back out into the world more than a decade later.”—Arthur Goldwag, author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies
“Charlene Edge writes with clarity and sensitivity. This memoir on her experiences in The Way International will help readers understand the subtleties and complexities of cultic groups.”—Michael D. Langone, PhD, Executive Director of the International Cultic Studies Association, editor of Cultic Studies Review, ICSA Today’s editor-in-chief, and editor of Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse
“This well-written exposé of life in a Christian fundamentalist cult reads like a novel and portrays, in lucid detail, how the author was seduced into joining the cult. Through her vivid prose, she helps us understand how she lived with the founder’s fantasies for seventeen years of her life. The story of how she got out is as illuminating as how she got in. It is a must read.” —Rita Bornstein, PhD, President Emerita of Rollins College, author of Legitimacy in the Academic Presidency: From Entrance to Exit
“A tenderly written, intensely personal narrative about being swallowed alive by a cult. Charlene Edge’s encounters with the abusive Victor Paul Wierwille and her firsthand observation of how The Way’s Research Department twisted the Scriptures are enlightening and chilling.”—Karl Kahler, author of The Cult That Snapped: A Journey into The Way International
“Charlene Edge has created a deeply human story of her conversion, commitment, disillusion, and disaffiliation from an evangelical Christian cult movement, The Way International. With balance and grace, she gives the reader a compelling portrait of the group’s leader and his fraught relationship with his followers that stands as a warning beacon to all those drawn to charismatic prophets and their high-demand communities.”—Phillip Charles Lucas, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies at Stetson University, author of The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy Order of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy, and co-editor with Thomas Robbins of New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective
“Charlene Edge’s personal story, Undertow, is a wake-up call to moderate Christians (and everyone else) about the dangers of the respectable-looking kind of fundamentalism that conducts Bible study but in reality twists Scripture to produce self-serving doctrines, demands obedience to a cult-of-personality leader, warps believers’ personal identities, and potentially damages members’ long-term welfare. With nonprofit status, such cults are here to stay. Read Undertow and be warned.” —Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land
“Well written and compelling, Charlene Edge provides a cautionary tale about the dangers of absolute religious truth. She courageously tells the story of her journey into the depths of religious fundamentalism, and reveals the intellectual strength that ultimately led her to reason her way out.”—Yudit Kornberg Greenberg, PhD, George and Harriet Cornell Endowed Professor of Religion and Director, Jewish Studies Program at Rollins College
“Undertow could be called ‘The Great Mystery of The Way Revealed: How the Research Department Really Worked.’ Every sentence rings true. In telling her story in Undertow, Charlene has also told mine. Holding degrees from the University of Toronto, having studied Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac, I taught and conducted biblical research for The Way International, albeit in a minor role, from 1976 to 1978. With remarkable clarity, Charlene tells her journey of recruitment, service, eventual disenchantment, and escape, which mirrors much of my own. I heartily recommend and endorse this well-written, captivating, engagingly told tale.” —Marty McRae, former Eighth Way Corps member and former faculty member, Way College of Emporia
“Undertow sensitively portrays Charlene Edge’s recruitment into a cult and her eventual escape. Her story is specific to her experience, but it is informative for all people who have been manipulated by a group, especially a fundamentalist one, and offers great insight on the difficulty of leaving. Her writing is magic, even exotic, making the reader identify with her and her struggle. The writing invites you into her life, and you are bound to come away better informed and a better person.” —Philip F. Deaver, PhD, Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at Rollins College, author of the Flannery O’Connor Award-winning story collection How Men Pray
“Undertow is a cautionary tale for all young people, especially those who are preparing to leave their familiar surroundings to go to college, join the Armed Forces, or move to start a new job. However, the same warning applies to anyone at any age who is going through any life change, such as the loss of a job, a divorce, or the death of a loved one. The names of high-control groups like The Way will be different, their teachings will vary, but the basic techniques of recruiting and mind control are the same. The extreme difficulty in leaving these organizations is evident in Charlene Edge’s story.” —Marjorie Patton, parent of a former Way Corps member who received successful exit counseling before Way Corps graduation
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