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The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs
UFO phenomena entered American consciousness at the beginning of the Cold War, when reports from astonished witnesses of encounters with unknown aerial objects captured the attention of the United States military and the imagination of the press and the public. But when UFOs appeared not to be hostile, and when some scientists pronounced the sightings to be of natural meteorological phenomena misidentified due to "Cold War jitters," military interest declined sharply and, with it, further overt scientific interest.
Yet sighting reports didn't stop and UFOs entered the public imagination as a cultural myth of the twentieth century. Brenda Denzler's comprehensive, clearly written, and compelling narrative provides the first sustained overview and valuation of the UFO/alien abduction movement as a social phenomenon positioned between scientific and religious perspectives. Demonstrating the unique place ufology occupies in the twentieth-century nexus between science and religion, Denzler surveys the sociological contours of its community, assesses its persistent attempt to achieve scientific legitimacy, and concludes with an examination of the movement's metaphysical or spiritual outlook. Her book is a substantial contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the boundaries of American religion and to the debate about the nature of science and religion.
Denzler presents a thorough and fascinating history of the UFO/abduction movement and traces the tensions between those who are deeply ambivalent about abduction narratives that seemingly erode their quest for scientific credibility, and the growing cultural power of those who claim to have been abducted. She locates the phenomenon within the context of American religious history and, using data gathered in surveys, sheds new light on the social profile of these UFO communities. The Lure of the Edge succeeds brilliantly in repositioning a cultural phenomenon considered by many to be bizarre and marginal into a central debate about the nature of science, technology, and the production of a modern myth.
Yet sighting reports didn't stop and UFOs entered the public imagination as a cultural myth of the twentieth century. Brenda Denzler's comprehensive, clearly written, and compelling narrative provides the first sustained overview and valuation of the UFO/alien abduction movement as a social phenomenon positioned between scientific and religious perspectives. Demonstrating the unique place ufology occupies in the twentieth-century nexus between science and religion, Denzler surveys the sociological contours of its community, assesses its persistent attempt to achieve scientific legitimacy, and concludes with an examination of the movement's metaphysical or spiritual outlook. Her book is a substantial contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the boundaries of American religion and to the debate about the nature of science and religion.
Denzler presents a thorough and fascinating history of the UFO/abduction movement and traces the tensions between those who are deeply ambivalent about abduction narratives that seemingly erode their quest for scientific credibility, and the growing cultural power of those who claim to have been abducted. She locates the phenomenon within the context of American religious history and, using data gathered in surveys, sheds new light on the social profile of these UFO communities. The Lure of the Edge succeeds brilliantly in repositioning a cultural phenomenon considered by many to be bizarre and marginal into a central debate about the nature of science, technology, and the production of a modern myth.
313 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 29, 2015
This book made me think deeply about the relationship between science, pseudoscience, religion and belief. A couple of paragraphs have stayed with me ever since.
August 7, 2017
Most of what this book does is better accomplished elsewhere in books like "UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture" by Gregory L. Reece & "The Gods Have Landed" by James R. Lewis. Quite a lot better.
My biggest gripe is her decision to conclude that UFO culture is not religious in nature (more or less). It is a field where all the data we have is belief based. There's no objective, scientifically verifiable data in the whole of its being. Then, even with survey results that have UFO aficionados not attending church services at 47% VS 22% regular national average, she makes the terrible call of categorizing the UFO experience as anything but a fully religious outing. That data is the largest, most important part of the research she conducted yet in the book she decides to throw it out as unimportant.
My other gripe is smaller, but gets you into how the author can just continuously be wrong in her pursual of her subject matter: she takes Whitley Streiber's "Communion" at face value. This is a man who had written 8 bestseller horror fiction novels before his "autobiographical" abduction tale. The book is indistinguishable in most ways from his previous horror fare except that the author claimed it was true. Remember the David Bowie vampire movie "The Hunger"? That was one of them.
There are many other moments of poor decision making and a weak ability to draw instructive conclusions peppered through the book. But that is not to say they book is without strengths. Her survey data is well gathered, if misunderstood. The best bit the author latched onto was the overwhelmingly sexist passion that UFOlogy seems to be. Women make up an overwhelming majority of experiencers and abductees yet they are almost totally cut out of the fabric of conventions, meetings, literature, everything about the UFO experience. The author even quotes a man saying something like "well, it seems at least women abductees can write a new genres of romance novel about their experiences." Just horrible stuff. And if you're not white, you're not a part of the UFO community, it would seem. But that seems to be more from a "white people are crazy, UFOs?" place, not active exclusion like is being perpetrated against the female part of the community.
Also, if the reader is interested in a bibliography of continuing research into the topic, it is available as about 1/3 of the page count. I'll probably try to track down some of the literature at a later point.
In the end I feel my 2 star rating is pretty generous, though.
My biggest gripe is her decision to conclude that UFO culture is not religious in nature (more or less). It is a field where all the data we have is belief based. There's no objective, scientifically verifiable data in the whole of its being. Then, even with survey results that have UFO aficionados not attending church services at 47% VS 22% regular national average, she makes the terrible call of categorizing the UFO experience as anything but a fully religious outing. That data is the largest, most important part of the research she conducted yet in the book she decides to throw it out as unimportant.
My other gripe is smaller, but gets you into how the author can just continuously be wrong in her pursual of her subject matter: she takes Whitley Streiber's "Communion" at face value. This is a man who had written 8 bestseller horror fiction novels before his "autobiographical" abduction tale. The book is indistinguishable in most ways from his previous horror fare except that the author claimed it was true. Remember the David Bowie vampire movie "The Hunger"? That was one of them.
There are many other moments of poor decision making and a weak ability to draw instructive conclusions peppered through the book. But that is not to say they book is without strengths. Her survey data is well gathered, if misunderstood. The best bit the author latched onto was the overwhelmingly sexist passion that UFOlogy seems to be. Women make up an overwhelming majority of experiencers and abductees yet they are almost totally cut out of the fabric of conventions, meetings, literature, everything about the UFO experience. The author even quotes a man saying something like "well, it seems at least women abductees can write a new genres of romance novel about their experiences." Just horrible stuff. And if you're not white, you're not a part of the UFO community, it would seem. But that seems to be more from a "white people are crazy, UFOs?" place, not active exclusion like is being perpetrated against the female part of the community.
Also, if the reader is interested in a bibliography of continuing research into the topic, it is available as about 1/3 of the page count. I'll probably try to track down some of the literature at a later point.
In the end I feel my 2 star rating is pretty generous, though.
August 4, 2025
As part of her dissertation work, Brenda Denzler completed a set of surveys and a participant-observer ethnography of different ufo community groups. By interpreting insights from these interactions with an extensive scholarly review of the published literature up to that point, Denzler illustrates religious studies dimensions of modern ufology as a cultural phenomenon. Seekers wanting to know if the truth is out there might be put off by the level of analysis here but scholars and scientists trying to make sense of the function of myth and belief in accounts of abductees and experiencers will be drawn in to Denzler's detailed citational practices and framing of the influence of Judeo-Christian grand themes and narratives. Very interesting to read this analysis alongside Adam Gorightly's Saucers, Spooks and Kooks: Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius as well as against works on ufology by Jeffrey Kripal and Diana Pasulka. Denzler's thesis provides solid evidence for the argument that ufo studies (and now, UAP studies) is in part a fulcrum for rigorous questioning about the nature of modern science/knowledge and its relationship to matters of faith and belief about the fundamental workings of the universe (or transdimensional metaverse) as well as the inner worlds of the collective psyche of human beings.
June 24, 2025
Pretty sick book! Breaking down the connection between UFOs and Religion went hard!! What a fun and informative read tehe!
August 1, 2022
An excellent summary of the UFO movement and all of its implications, problems, relationships, etc. It is well-researched and annotated and has excellent appendices, although it does feel rather like a brief survey rather than an exhaustive one, which is perhaps true considering its very broad scope. Still, Lure of the Edge is a great—perhaps necessary, I don't know—resource for any reader. In particular, its analysis of pseudoscience is profound.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews