Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The cult classic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ran from 1997-2003 and sparked both controversy and a strange cacophony of fans, from teenagers to professional academics to feminist scholars.

What is it about this show that caught the attention of so many? Why was this pop culture clip able to grab such a diverse audience and fan base?

These questions are not easy to answer. But the universal story of humanity and calling that is evident within the show, is a theme that is found throughout the life of all people. With that in mind this blog seeks to bring the cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christian thought (both historical and contemporary), and us (you and I) into conversation with vocation.

Vocation - What is it?

"Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about..."1

SNYDER: The first day back. It always gets me.

GILES: Yes.

SNYDER: I mean, it's incredible. One day the campus is completely bare. Empty. The next, there are children everywhere. Like locusts. Crawling around, mindlessly bent on feeding and mating. Destroying everything in sight in their relentless, pointless desire to exist.

GILES: I do enjoy these pep talks. Have you ever considered, given your abhorrence of children, school's principal was not, perhaps, your true vocation?

(Scene from, When She Was Bad, 2.1)

Vocation is a term that has been secularized and much of its original connotation has been lost. When vocation is heard it is often understood as "one's paid work."2 And while "one's paid work" can certainly be contained within one's vocation, there is much more to vocation than the place where the paycheck is earned. The word vocation comes from the Latin word vocare meaning to call, or to voice. Vocation then is not related in any way to compensation, but rather to that which one is called to do or be, or "a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life."3

Many of the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer acknowledge this broader and deeper understanding of vocation and calling. Catheleen Kaveny notes, "The series is about vocation; it explores what it means for Buffy to be a vampire slayer, not merely to slay vampires for fun or profit. It shows her struggling to live up to the demands of the role, sacrificing the usual teenage pleasures to meet her unusual responsibilities. It also shows her growth in competence, wisdom, and confidence, and her eventual realization that the sacrifices are worth it. In exploring the meaning of vocation, the show suggests ways of overcoming several dichotomies that hamper a creative and humane response to the contemporary situation of women."4 Buffy's vocation is not to slay vampires, but is to be a vampire slayer with all that entails - adventure, struggle, and sacrifice. Her vocation has nothing to do with compensation, but rather is that which she is wholly and fully at the depths of her being.

Martin Luther speaks to this fullness of vocation for all people. He writes, "Every person surely has a calling. While attending to it [he] serves God. A king serves God when he is at pains to look after and govern his people. So do the mother of a household when she tends her baby, the father of a household when he gains a livelihood by working, and a pupil when he applies [himself] diligently to [his] studies...Therefore, it is a great wisdom when a human being does what God commands and earnestly devotes himself to his vocation..." 5 Every one of us has a vocation, for as Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Where is your deep gladness?

Where does this intersect with a deep hunger/need in the world?

1 - Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000. p. 4.
2 - Schuurman, Douglas J. Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2004. p. 1.
3 - Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 24, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vocation
4 - Kaveny, Cathleen. What Women Want: 'Buffy,' the Pope, and the New Feminists. Commonweal November 7, 2003, pg.18-24p
5 - Luther, Martin. Luther's Works, vol. 3: Lectures on Genesis. Pelikan, Jaroslav & Lehmann, Helmut T. , Eds. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press. 1995.

Buffy denies her vocation...we've been there!

GILES: I was hoping that I wouldn't have to. That there was... some way around it. I...

BUFFY: I've got a way around it. I quit!

ANGEL: It's not that simple.

BUFFY: I'm making it that simple! I quit! I resign, I-I'm fired, you can find someone else to stop the Master from taking over!

GILES: I'm not sure that anyone else can. All the... the signs indicate...

BUFFY: The signs? (throws a book at him) READ ME THE SIGNS! (throws another one) TELL ME MY FORTUNE! YOU'RE SO USEFUL SITTING HERE WITH ALL YOUR BOOKS! YOU'RE REALLY A LOTTA HELP!

GILES: No, I don't suppose I am.

ANGEL: I know this is hard.

BUFFY: What do you know about this? You're never gonna die!

ANGEL: You think I want anything to happen to you? Do you think I could stand it? We just gotta figure out a way...

BUFFY: I already did. I quit, remember? Pay attention!

GILES: Buffy, if the Master rises...

BUFFY: I don't care! (calms down) I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die.

(Scene from, "Prophecy Girl" Season 1:12)

In this scene from the 12th episode of season 1, Buffy has just overheard a conversation between Giles and Angel in which they are discussuing a prophecy found in the Codex. This prophecy points to The Slayer's (Buffy) death at the hands of The Master. Giles discovered and interpretted this prophecy earlier but withheld his findings from her to protect Buffy. But now, as he was sharing his findings with Angel, Buffy overhears.

And Buffy will have not part of this prophecy. Buffy isn't ready to live out this calling, this calling to death. She is after all a teenager, right? She's got so much to live for. She never asked for this vocation, and yet she is being asked to give it all up and just take it. But Buffy is not going to just take it. She declares, "I've got a way around it. I quit!"

This response to vocation and calling is all too common. In the Biblical story we read time and time again of folks who resisted or even ran away from their vocational callings. Characters like Moses, Peter, and most noteably Jonah capture this denial. In Jonah 1 we read, "Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, "Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. "

Jonah, like Buffy, learned of what he was being called to do, and he ran, just like Buffy in Prophecy Girl. She declares to Giles and Angel that she quits, and that's truly what she intends to do. In the next scene she is in her room when her mother comes in sensing something's up (as mother often do). Buffy, after brief small talk, asks her mother if they can go away - anywhere, right now. Buffy wants to run - to deny her vocation - because it seems hard. She just doesn't want to do it!

But in the running, both Jonah and Buffy come into contact with 'voices' that call them to acknowledge who they are at their deepest points - who and what they are called to be. Jonah heeds the call of the Lord to go to Ninevah and proclaim the word of the Lord. Buffy, after talking with her close friend Willow, understands that the pain her friend is experiencing can be prevented from occuring again by answering her call.

Jonah and Buffy understand that by living fully into their vocational callings they are placing themselves in much danger, even death. But they both acknowledge that they can't help but be who they are, who they were created to be.

Vocationally, we often run from what we feel we are being called to. We may be afraid, we may be tired, we may feel unworthy, or ill-equipped. And so we do what is a natural instinct - run!

Have you ever run from your vocation, your calling? Why?

What 'voices' in your life have helped you to understand where you needed to be or what you are called to do?

We are ALL Called - Xander's Take on Vocation

BUFFY: (walks up to Dawn from the kitchen, followed by Xander) Hey. You OK?

DAWN: Yeah, I was thinking of hitting the books. Do some research on The First. It's in retreat mode right now, but you're still gonna need to know how to fight it.

BUFFY: Great. Sounds good. (to the slayers-in-training) Hey, you guys, wanna head downstairs? Get our newest arrival up to speed?

(they all file out, only Amanda acknowledging Dawn's existence. Xander lingers)

DAWN: (to Xander) What's up?

XANDER: Aw, I'm just thinking about the girls. It's a harsh gig, being a potential. Just being picked out of a crowd, danger, destiny, (grins) plus if you act now, death.

DAWN: They can handle it.

XANDER: Yeah. They're special, no doubt. The amazing thing is, not one of them will ever know, not even Buffy.

DAWN: Know what?

XANDER: How much harder it is for the rest of us.

DAWN: No way. They've got?

XANDER: Seven years, Dawn. Working with the slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful. A witch. A demon. Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit, but come a full moon, he had a wolfy mojo not to be messed with. Powerful. All of them. And I'm the guy who fixes the windows.

DAWN: Well, you had that sexy army training for a while, and?and the windows really did need fixing.

XANDER: I saw what you did last night.

DAWN: Yeah, I? (embarrassed) I guess I kinda lost my head when I thought I was the slayer.

XANDER: You thought you were all special. Miss Sunnydale 2003. And the minute you found out you weren't, you handed the crown to Amanda without a moment's pause. You gave her your power.

DAWN: (shrugs) The power wasn't mine.

XANDER: They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary. (stands, kisses her forehead, starts to walk out of the room)

DAWN: (tears welling in her eyes, calls after him) Maybe that's your power.

XANDER: What?

DAWN: Seeing. Knowing.

XANDER: Maybe it is. Maybe I should get a cape.

DAWN: Cape is good.

XANDER: Yeah. (leaves the room)

(Scene from, "Potential" Season 7:12)

Xander, the handsome yet goofy friend of Buffy points to the biggest misunderstanding of vocation. Often as noted, vocation is understood in its smallest sense - the callings of those who professionally work in the religious world - churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. This is what Dawn is struggling with (although not in a religious sense) as she is feeling depleted, sensing that she is less than she truly is and that she doesn't have a vocation because she isn't a potential slayer. Xander steps in and points to his own 'normalcy' as he illuminates the vocation and calling of all people, regardless of stature or role. He acknowledges the worth of all people and the individual callings of each, all the while commenting on how difficult it is to be 'normal' in today's society of titles, and position.

Martin Luther spoke to this very equity found in the vocation of all people, and reminded us all not to elevate ourselves above anyone else. "Therefore let us not exalt ourselves above others because we are above them by reason of our position; but let us acknowledge that although in this life grace has many forms and there are various kinds of vocations, the same God is the God of all, whether they are slaves or free, whether they are rich or poor, provided that they hold fast to the Word and persevere in the faith." 1

We all have been gifted with a vocation and calling, indeed a holy calling. For God has, "called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace." [2 Timothy 1:9] How we live into our vocations and callings is the joy of our life journey together as community.

Who has affirmed your calling in your life?

How can you help to affirm the vocations of others in your life?

1 - Luther, Martin. Luther's works, vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (Ge 17:13). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1999.

"Never Kill On A First Date" - Sacrifice and Vocation

GILES: I was ten years old when my father told me I was destined to be a Watcher. He was one, and his, uh, mother before him, and I was to be next.

BUFFY: Were you thrilled beyond all measure?

GILES: No, I had very definite plans about my future. I was going to be a fighter pilot. Or possibly a grocer. Well, uh... My father gave me a very tiresome speech about, uh, responsibility and sacrifice.

BUFFY: Sacrifice, huh?

GILES: (looks toward Owen) Seems like a nice lad.

BUFFY: Yeah. But he wants to be danger man. You, Xander, Willow, you guys... you guys know the score, you're careful. Two days in my world and Owen really *would* get himself killed. Or I'd get him killed. Or someone else.

(Scene from, Never Kill on a First Date Season 1:5)

As one reads through the biblical text and the stories/writings of historical (and 'common') Christian people, the themes of vocation and sacrifice quickly rise to the surface. All of this begins in the life and death of Jesus. In living into his being - his vocation - he offered himself up for the sins of the world, dying the most humiliating and painful death imaginable. Jesus sacrificed his life to live into his calling as Savior of the world.

Living into our vocation and calling will require sacrifice. It may be a sacrifice of relationship (like Buffy in the scene above), a sacrifice of financial stability, a sacrifice of time, a sacrifice of love... the list goes on and on. Indeed, living into our vocations will require a sacrifice, but this full living into our vocation is not without gain. In the Gospel of Matthew we read, "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25)


Who are some biblical figures that face sacrifice as they lived out their vocational calling?

What might you have to sacrifice in order to live out your vocational calling?

'Random' Quotes on Vocation and Calling

"You ask: Why did not Christ and the apostles bear the sword? Answer: You tell me, why did Christ not take a wife, or become a cobbler or a tailor. If an office or vocation were to be regarded as disreputable on the ground that Christ did not pursue it himself, what would become of all the offices and vocations other than the ministry, the one occupation he did follow? Christ pursued his own office and vocation, but he did not thereby reject any other... Now, it is not essential to his kingdom that he be a married man, a cobbler, tailor, farmer, prince, hangman, or constable; neither is the temporal sword or law essential to it, but only God’s Word and Spirit...For each one must attend to the duties of his own calling."

Martin Luther in "Luther's Works: The Christian in Society II." pp. 100-101

"Vocation conveys "calling" and meaningful purpose. It is a relational sensisbility in which I recognize that what I do with my time, talents, and treasure is most meaningfully conceived not as a matter of mere personal passion and preference but in relationship to the whole of life. Vocation arises from a deepening understanding of both self and world, which gives rise to moments of power when self and purpose become aligned with eternity."

Sharon Daloz Parks in "Big Questions, Worthy Dreams." p. 30

"Vocational thinking is countercultural. It flies in the face of the message we receive daily from popular culture, which insists again and again that happiness and contentment in life can be found in gratifying our own desires and seeing to our own needs. "

Douglas J. Brouwer in "What am I supposed to do with my life?" p.5

"Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live - but the standards by which I cannot help but life if I am living my own. life."

Parker J. Palmer in "Let Your Life Speak." p. 4

"A profession summons the best from you. A vocation calls you away from what you thought was best in you, purifies it, and promises to make you something or someone you are not yet."

Robert Lischer in "The End of Words" 2005. p. 30

Buffy and other Christian themes - What do you think?

Thus far we have explored the Christian theme of vocation as it applies and appears in the mega hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And this has only been an initial scratch on the surface. Surely there are other themes embedded throughout this series. What are they?


Let's continue to explore these themes as they appear in BTVS together. Let me know what further themes strike you.