Recently the book What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire
Slayer as Spiritual Guide turned up at the offices of
WIE asking politely to be reviewed. For those who
missed the fun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a
tremendously popular TV series that aired from 1997 to 2003 and
starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as a teenager whose life revolved
around homework, hanging out, and combating the gruesome undead.
But running beneath all the comedy and action was a strong moral
and spiritual undercurrent, as Buffy confronted questions of
love and hate, and life and death, and also took frequent
metaphysical sojourns into matters of life after death.
So perhaps it was inevitable that a theologian (author Jana
Riess) would write a book highlighting its spiritual
significance. After all, illuminating the religious themes
hidden in popular entertainment has been a favorite activity
among many of the theologically inclined for at least four
decades.
It began in 1964 with the publication of Robert L.
Short's classic treatise The Gospel According to
Peanuts, which introduced millions to the Christian
parables hidden within a popular, and seemingly secular, comic
strip. Forty years later, this genre is more prevalent than
ever, with "The Gospel According to . . ." titles spanning the
worlds of Tolkien, Harry Potter, the Simpsons, and Dr. Seuss.
There's even The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and
Faith in the Matrix, which contains such passages as: "Our
own introduction to a life of faith, like that of Neo, revolves
around seeing ourselves in a new way: redeemed, transformed.
Once we grasp our new identity, we become ready to walk the path
of faith."
As I read through these books, it became clear that
religious messages might potentially be found pervading all
of pop culture, if one simply had the eyes to glean the
spiritual truths from the secular dross. But then I began to
wonder: Is this spiritualization of popular movies and
literature actually revealing a spiritual depth
inherent within them? Or is it simply using pop
culture's voice to help elevate traditional religious
principles in the eyes of millions of disaffected Gen-Y and
-Xers, for whom pop culture is indeed the new religion of
choice? Somehow, as with many mysteries of the postmodern age,
it seems to be a strange blend of both-with actual moral themes
shining through as they would with any good story, but the
story's parallels to a particular religious tradition often
being drawn through bizarre leaps of imagination.
"The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel reminds me of
Sam-I-am," writes former Methodist pastor James W. Kemp in
The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss. "He is handed a
plate of green eggs and ham in the form of a scroll 'with words
of lamentation and mourning and woe' (Ezekiel 2:10). The scroll
symbolizes the entrée-the message-that Ezekiel is to offer to
the children of Israel. . . . Yet it is not surprising that the
children of Israel might not agree with his tastes in cuisine."
The moral of this story? Sunday school ain't what it
used to be.
Tom Huston