I’ve recently had the privilege of being interviewed for John Morehead’s TheoFantastique podcast, which explores the intersection of sci fi/fantasy and religion. We had a great conversation over Skype about Buffy, Buddhism, postmodern cafeteria religion, and the commodification of the soul.

Check it out if you are as geeky as I am. You just might be.

After a long absence, I recently got back into watching Buffy for two reasons. The first is that I taught a university course this past spring on religion and popular culture, and I did what professors everywhere do to simultaneously oppress their students and aggrandize themselves: I put my own book on the syllabus. (They were too cowed to complain. Joss Whedon would approve.) So I read my book for the first time in several years and had a wonderful time introducing my students to different episodes. It was an excellent opportunity to Buffyvangelize the rising generation.

The second, and more important, reason is that a dear friend had a horrid summer. At one point I took off to fly to her city and spend a few days with her, and all I could think of to bring her as a token of my love was my Buffy doll. I told my friend that she should keep Buffy as long as she needed an avatar to help her kick this problem’s ass.

Sometimes we can’t kick ass ourselves. We need Buffy, and we need each other.