Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International

Over the years, I've found many definitions for "cult." In my view, one of the best is by Robert Jay Lifton, PhD, one of the first scholars to examine the cult phenomenon. Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and The Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry by Robert Jay Lifton. The New Press. 2019. Pg. 4, 5. [Chapter 7: Trump, is very timely]. "I have insisted upon retaining the word “cult” for groups that meet three criteria:  First, a shift in worship from broad spiritual ideas to the person of a charismatic guru;  second, the active pursuit of a thought reform-like process that frequently stresses some kind of merger with the guru; and  third, extensive exploitation from above (by the guru and leading disciples)—whether economic, sexual, or psychological—of the idealism of ordinary followers from below." For more voices on this topic, read here:  What is a Cult? For more about Lifton, visit  Robert Jay Lifton - Wikipedia

Pictured is Charlene L. Edge at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. 2022. Photo by her husband, Dr. Hoyt L. Edge. Welcome to my blog about The Way International and related topics such as cults, Christian fundamentalism, and my memoir, Undertow , that describes my 17-year immersion in The Way as a leader and biblical researcher trained by the founder, Victor Paul Wierwille.  If you don't know, The Way was started about 75 years ago by Wierwille in Ohio. It is still in business as I write this on September 10, 2026. That fact distresses me beyond measure. If you want to know why, my memoir answers that question, and so do many posts on this blog. The Way's current website is:  The Way International - Biblical Research, Teaching, and Fellowship The content on this blog Many of the posts you find here I first published on my author website at https://charleneedge.com. This month I retired that website. With its disappearance from the internet went more than 400 posts I wrote...

  Greetings, readers. I hope the following list of my posts about The Way and related topics will help you navigate this blog. There is no other way to provide such a list on this site. Note : I do not use AI to produce content. First, the featured photo This photo is from the late 1970s at a meeting before I came on staff in 1984 at The Way International in New Knoxville, Ohio, as a member of the Biblical Research Team. It's of a small group of us doing what the leader called "biblical research" at Way headquarters in the old Biblical Research Center. The Way was founded by Victor Paul Wierwille (VPW) about 75 years ago. He died in 1985.  Wierwille sits on the left at the head of the table. Rev. Walter J. Cummins, his research assistant and later my boss (who you meet in my memoir,  Undertow ), is right of VPW. He's wearing a white shirt. Walter got into The Way when he was a teenager and Wierwille groomed him to do his style of what they called "biblical resear...