Riess, Jana; What Would Buffy Do? The vampire slayer as a spiritual guide. San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass; 2004; isbn[0-7879-6922-2].
It is truly rare to be a witness to a new spiritual movement that spawns an entire pantheon of heroes. It is even rarer to find a Pantheon whose population is extraordinary in their powers, and extraordinary in their struggle with their humanity. Over the past couple of years such a movement has been on the rise, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel as the central focus.
I am sure that most pantheons began in this way. Some story teller tells a story. This might have started as a child asking “Why does the sun rise over there” and the father being entirely too clever to say “Because.” Over the expanse of time the sun is born over there, must struggle with his childhood, rises to maturity and dies a miserable or glorious death in the west, depending on how the sun felt that day. Then, after a larger span of time, the story is remembered while the story teller is forgotten. Zeus’ exploits with all the ladies and youths become part of what the gods do, rather than a camp fire tale worthy of many a dream to follow. Of course, myth is often not what it is presented as. Zeus’ exploits with those young people might have been as presented, a sexual interlude, or something else, like a creative injection by Zeus into a would be hero or hera.
Some years ago, someone came up with the cleaver tag line, “What would Jesus do?” This had the precariousness of some Christians not really knowing what Jesus would do in a situation, and lacking both a moral compass, and the creative power of their imagination falls short of a suitable answer. Now, there are other works on the market that are a bit more elaborate, such as “What would Buddha do” (Am waiting on that one) that explores the moral and spiritual compass of some great visionaries.
As a Satanic Pagan Minister I have determined that I would work with a person’s assimilated spiritual compass, as forcing them into mine would be a violation of mine. So, when I heard that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was forming a spiritual movement of a magnitude equal to any in the history of humanity, I became determined to fit it into a format that would let me be of service to one who is pursuing Slayerhood.
The Book, What Would Buffy Do has helped put it all into perspective for me, and taken me to a depth that I had not expected. The book addresses the nature of the two Slayer series on TV and the Movie, and answers some questions about what Joss Whedon was thinking about when he wrote it. I found Jana Riess addressed the issues of human spirituality with great satisfaction. While I am still not sure if Buffy is a Night hunter or a Day hunter, the spiritual issues I must address and help guide others through have been given a new chapter to help me in these efforts of mine.
For any minister, especially those being baptized into the Buffyverse (the world as presented in those two series), I would highly recommend this work. And if you are just looking for a new gander at some old questions, this will help in that regard as well. The book closes with a refresher on the show’s story lines through seven years, as well as a review of the characters and their role.
Potter, Thomas; BronzDragon; ; March 2006.
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