On apocalypses - the major division between the Jossverse characters concept of the Apocalypse and the Christian one is that in Christian literature the Apocalypse is predestined to end in God's victory and hence essentially a good thing, regardless of the temporary suffering it causes. The key difference in the Jossverse is that victory for the forces of good is not guaranteed, so these are not so much Apocalypses with less weight of meaning, as apocalypses which have been averted. Once again, it's a valuing of human life over abstract theological imperatives.
On explicit Christians in the Jossverse, you forgot the very competent and respect-worthy nun in I've Got You Under My Skin, possibly the Jossverse episode which accepts Christian (and specifically Catholic) concepts least critically.
On Pavayne, the theory which I've seen most often and which makes most sense to me is that he, and he only, was consigned to a Hell dimension by Wolfram & Hart as a specific part of the sacrifice, and as a payment for their mystical power. He then sent other people to Hell to trade his way out, in the process probably buying even more power for W&H (one wonders if they forsaw it). It goes with the imagery of buying and trading souls that is applied to W&H all the way through. In general, there are serious problems with an explicit endoresement of Hell in the Jossverse, because it means that any huiman characters killed off by our heroes in a state of moral ambiguity may have been consigned to eternal torment, a really big moral responsibility. I'm not surprised they skated around the subject.
Finally, I would specifically bring in the way that Jasmine's cannibalism is presented as a parody of Holy Communion - the God consuming her worshippers and making them part of her Body in a far less spiritual and pleasant way than the binding of the Church into the body of Christ.
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Date: 2005-01-02 02:35 am (UTC)Initial reactions:
On apocalypses - the major division between the Jossverse characters concept of the Apocalypse and the Christian one is that in Christian literature the Apocalypse is predestined to end in God's victory and hence essentially a good thing, regardless of the temporary suffering it causes. The key difference in the Jossverse is that victory for the forces of good is not guaranteed, so these are not so much Apocalypses with less weight of meaning, as apocalypses which have been averted. Once again, it's a valuing of human life over abstract theological imperatives.
On explicit Christians in the Jossverse, you forgot the very competent and respect-worthy nun in I've Got You Under My Skin, possibly the Jossverse episode which accepts Christian (and specifically Catholic) concepts least critically.
On Pavayne, the theory which I've seen most often and which makes most sense to me is that he, and he only, was consigned to a Hell dimension by Wolfram & Hart as a specific part of the sacrifice, and as a payment for their mystical power. He then sent other people to Hell to trade his way out, in the process probably buying even more power for W&H (one wonders if they forsaw it). It goes with the imagery of buying and trading souls that is applied to W&H all the way through. In general, there are serious problems with an explicit endoresement of Hell in the Jossverse, because it means that any huiman characters killed off by our heroes in a state of moral ambiguity may have been consigned to eternal torment, a really big moral responsibility. I'm not surprised they skated around the subject.
Finally, I would specifically bring in the way that Jasmine's cannibalism is presented as a parody of Holy Communion - the God consuming her worshippers and making them part of her Body in a far less spiritual and pleasant way than the binding of the Church into the body of Christ.