Buffy The Vampire Slayer

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a parable, a postmodern morality play in which Buffy is a Christ figure, her Scooby Gang is the church and the vampires and demons represent the variety of temptation and moral hazards we all encounter in life." — The Door magazine, on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series

1. In Season 1’s premiere episode, who gives Buffy a case containing a cross and chain?

2. Buffy’s Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), explains: "This world is older than any of you know . . . For untold eons, demons walked the earth, made it their home, their hell. In time, they lost their purchase on this reality, and the way was made for mortal animals. For man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: certain magicks, certain creatures . . ." What biblical passage suggests Lucifer walked the earth before Adam and Eve were created?

3. In the Season 1 finale, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) dies. The Master, an age-old vampire, tells Buffy: "You still don’t understand your part in all this, do you? You are not the hunter. You are the lamb." Where does the Bible suggest the same image for Jesus Christ?

4. Spike (James Marsters) overhears another vampire say: "When I kill her, it’ll be the greatest event since the Crucifixion. And I should know. I was there." What is Spike’s reply?

5. Who played Jenny Calendar, Sunnydale High School’s computer science teacher?

6. In Season 3, Buffy descends into a hell dimension and leads her fellow captives to freedom, lifting a gate leading back to our dimension. What does this echo in the account of Jesus Christ?

7. According to the Buffy Monster Book, what "is literally the first evil to have existed on earth, the precursor to all subsequent forces for darkness in the world?"

8. In the Season 3 finale, Angel is poisoned. What does Buffy tell Angel to do, in order to save his life?

9. In the Angel spinoff series, Angel and company seek guidance at an otherworldly karaoke bar named Caritas. What does "caritas" mean in Latin?

10. When Buffy is asked by a girl on campus, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour?" what is Buffy’s reply?

Answers

1. Angel (David Boreanaz) — a vampire. In a later episode, when Angel and the cross-wearing Buffy kiss, the imprint of the cross is seared into Angel’s skin. Though Angel knows the cross is around Buffy’s neck, he bears the pain to kiss her goodbye.

2. Ezekiel 28: "You were in Eden, the garden of God . . . You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you . . . Your heart became proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth . . ."

From The Dictionary of Biblical Literacy (1989): "A symbolic view of the initial fall [of angels] appears in Revelation 12:3-4 where the dragon (Satan) ’drew a third of the stars of heaven’ (angels) and ’threw them to the earth.’ This shows Satan has his own angels, presumably the demons (Rev. 12:9)."

3. John 1:29, where John the Baptist exclaims: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" After Buffy is revived, she throws The Master through the library skylight, then goes to a dance with her friends.

4. "You were there? Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock . . . I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watching my hand move."

5. Robia La Morte. Earlier in her faith journey, La Morte explained, "I was in my car and said, ’God, you know I love you, but I don’t get the whole Jesus deal. I don’t understand it. I don’t know if I believe in it — it just doesn’t make sense to me. If this is really the truth — if this is really what you want me to believe, you’re going to have to show me signs.’ "

A few seconds later, a biker gang encircled her car, with crosses on the backs of their helmets, and jackets proclaiming: "We Ride for Jesus." Fans claim La Morte’s favourite books are the Bible and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

6. In the day between his Friday death and Sunday resurrection, Jesus "went and preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:18-20).

7. The First Evil, "the chaotic or evil entity that opposes the orderly goodness of the Powers That Be; it is the darkness that is in constant combat against the light." According to the Bible, Satan is the source of all evil. The New International Version of the Bible most accurately translates the Lord’s prayer, "deliver us from the evil one" (Matt 6:13).

8. Buffy tells Angel: "Drink me!" echoing Jesus’s words, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54).

Buffy: "Angel, listen to me. Sit up. You’re gonna live. You have to live."

Angel: "What do I..."

Buffy: "Drink? Drink me."

Angel: "No."

Buffy: "It’s the only way."

9. Love, charity or mercy. "Caritas" is the word Augustine used to describe the love of the faithful for God and neighbour, and God’s love for humanity. In the karaoke bar, a lounge-singing demon named Lorne (a.k.a The Host) can psychically read the destinies of Angel and company — but only if they sing first.

In a www.breakpoint.org article, Roberto Rivera writes, "The show is the story of Angel’s struggle to atone for the evil he has done — a struggle made all the harder by the fact that, just as with us, being remorseful doesn’t mean that Angel has lost his capacity for evil."

10. "You know I meant to, and then I just got really busy." While some Christians may view Buffy’s reply as offensive or sacrilegious, others contend the Buffy writers are only critiquing the almost empty cliches of modern Christianity.

Toronto priest John Pungente, who heads the Jesuit Communication Project, argues that Buffy tackles modern-day religious complacency with raw, unmerciful wit. Says Pungente, "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a TV show that has so many positive values to offer to people, provided you don’t take it in the literal sense . . . I think Buffy is the closest we’re going to get to the realities of teenage life. Even though we get a weekly dose of vampires and monsters, they’re the point. Because metaphorically speaking, that’s teenage reality."

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For comments or suggestions, e-mail : solomann@look.ca

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10 As wise as Solomon