The Study of Religion
The study of religion has developed as an academic discipline over the past 150 years. At its origins, it was a way for European and American scholars to examine the flood of data about religions from colonized countries. In those early days, Protestant Christianity was regnant both culturally and in the academy. Its tenets shaped many of the assumptions about what constitutes religion, even among scholars. So, for example, early definitions of religion typically focused on belief as the core element of any religion. The trouble with this is that not all religions make belief their central feature, preferring right practice (orthopraxy) to right believing (orthodoxy).
Given the problems with developing a universal definition of religion, most recent scholars have opted for a “living religion” approach that examines how people “do religion.” As such, they focus on how religious people create and pass along traditions, how they commemorate transitions in the life cycle. They also examine the ways in which religious people form communities and designate spaces of special value. Additionally, scholars of religion look at how religious people think about the human person, for example, in the construction and performance of gender and sexuality. This approach differs somewhat from earlier work that focused on what religious elites (i.e., priests, ministers, monastics, etc) think, rather than on what ordinary folk do.
This is not to say that thinking and ideas are irrelevant to the study of religion today. As we shall see in this website, there are a number of ideas that are commonly associated with religion, such as redemption and sacrifice, that deserve to be explored.
The Study of Religion and Popular Culture
The study of religion is also characterized by interdisciplinarity, that is, the use of tools from a variety of academic fields, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies. The latter discipline has been particularly influential in the study of how religion and popular culture intersect, a vital subfield for this website.
In general, scholars of religion and popular culture look at their subject matter in one of four ways: 1) religion in popular culture (e.g., how Islam is represented in a television show), 2) popular culture in religion (e.g., how megachurches around the world have embraced rich multimedia production in their services), 3) popular culture as religion (e.g., the cult-like status of fandoms for celebrities or sports teams), and, finally, 4) religion and popular culture in dialogue. This website follows insights from the final approach (while also touching upon the others).
Religion and popular culture are deeply enmeshed in Buffy. The creator of the show, Joss Whedon, is an avowed atheist, but his undergraduate studies in religious studies shine through in numerous episodes. One such example is the episode called, “Amends” (s.03, e.10) in which Angel, the vampire with a soul, decides that he must kill himself in order to make amends for all of the evil he has committed during his 147 years. The idea of atonement for sins, which is central to Christian traditions, permeates this narrative. The denouement of the episode is the “miraculous” snowfall in Sunnydale (southern California) that prevents his death-by-sunrise plans. Angel’s story continues in the spin-off series Angel with him working out his amends not by death but by actions.
In looking at the dialogue between religion and popular culture in Buffy, we are working in good company. There are numerous scholars of religion and popular culture that I will refer to along the way. You can also find a list of books and articles under the Resources tab.