"I think I was in heaven": Joss
Whedon's Atheist Faith
David Lavery
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“After Life” (BtVS 6.3)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Theology in Popular Culture
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Thomas J. J.
Altizer
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“So our coming of age forces us to a true
recognition of our situation vis-à-vis God.
God is teaching us that we must live as
men who can get along very well without
him. The God who is with us is the God
who forsakes us (Mark 15:34). The God
who makes us live in this world without
using him as a working hypothesis is the
God before whom we are ever standing.
Before God and with him we live without
God. God allows himself to be edged out of
the world and onto the cross. God is weak
and powerless in the world, and that is
exactly the way, the only way, in which he
can be with us and help us.”--Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Letter of July 16, 1944
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“God is absent in the towns, in the fields,
in the mountains and in the plains. He is
absent in law, in science, in education and
in morals. He is even absent in the lives of
the religious for they, who still want to be
his friends, have no need for His
presence. God is absent as never before. .
. . To be absent has become one of
the qualities of God.”
Leon Bloy
(1846-1917)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
”Dead-beat Dad”
(Supernatural, “The
Dark Side of the
Moon”)
Dean and Sam Winchester with Joshua,
god’s BFF.
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
God and the 20th Century
(Supernatural, “Free to Be You and Me”)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Chuck
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Theology in Popular Culture
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Death: You have an inflated sense of your
importance. To a thing like me, a thing like
you. . . . Think how you'd feel if a bacterium
sat at your table and tried to get smart. This
is one little planet in one tiny solar system in
a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm
old, Dean, very old. So I invite you to
contemplate what if any significance I find in
you. Eat!
Dean: I got to ask, how old are you?
Death: As old as God--maybe older. Neither
of us can remember any more. Life, death,
chicken, egg, regardless, at the end I'll reap
him too.
Dean: God? You will reap God?
Death: Oh yes. God will die too, Dean.
Dean: This is way above my pay-grade.
Theology in Popular
Culture
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Thomas Disch (1940-2008)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
L. Ron Hubbard
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Philip K. Dick
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Joss Whedon (1964- ),
in a cameo appearance
on Veronica Mars
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Joss Whedon and His Mentor, Jeanine Basinger
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Joss and
His Wife, Kai
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Jana Riess
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
WWBD?
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Tuna Erdem (with the flowers)
Buffy Hereafter--Istanbul,
Turkey, October 2007
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“Can of kraut,
pound of
pastrami,
bagels, bring
home”--the
sacred text in
A Canticle for
Leibowitz
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“It's about the show, and I feel the same way
about it. I get the same way. It's not like being
a rock star. It doesn't feel like they're reacting
to me. It's really sweet when people react like
that, and I love the praise, but to me, what
they're getting emotional about is the show.
And that's the best feeling in the world. There's
nothing creepy about it. I feel like there's a
religion in narrative, and I feel the same way
they do. I feel like we're both paying homage to
something else; they're not paying homage to
me.”--Joss Whedon, Onion AV Club Interview
(2001; my italics)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Question: “Do you believe in
God?”
Joss: “Not a jot.”
--“Joss Whedon answers 100
Questions”
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“I’m a very hard-line, angry
atheist. . . . Yet I am
fascinated by the concept of
devotion.”
--Joss Whedon (Felicity Nussbaum,
“Must See Metaphysics”)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“Who Are You?” (BtVS 4.16)
“It's hard to believe.
I've been avoiding this
place for so many
years, and it's nothing.
It's nice! It's got the
pretty windows, the
pillars . . . lots of folks
to eat. Where's the
thing I was so afraid
of? You know, the
Lord? He was supposed
to be here. He gave us
this address.”
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“Conversations with Dead People,” BtVS 7.7
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
HOLDEN: Oh my god.
BUFFY: Oh your god what?
HOLDEN: Well, not MY god, 'cause I
defy him and all his works -- does he
exist, by the way? Is there word on that?
BUFFY: Nothing solid.
--from “Conversations with Dead
People”
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Mal Reynolds (left) and Shepherd Book
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Mal: Well, what about you, Shepherd?
How come you're flyin' with us brigands?
I mean, shouldn't you be off bringing
religiosity to the fuzzy-wuzzies or some
such?
Book: Oh, I got heathens aplenty right
here.
Mal: If I'm your mission, Shepherd, best
give it up. You're welcome on my boat—
God ain't.
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“After Life” (BtVS 6.3)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
SPIKE: Buffy, if you're in-- if you're in pain. Or if you
need anything... If I can help you...
BUFFY: You can't.
SPIKE: Well, I haven't been to a Hell dimension
just of late, but I know a thing or two about torment
BUFFY: I was happy.
SPIKE: I don't ...
BUFFY: Wherever I ... was ... I was happy. At peace. I
knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it.
Time didn't mean anything, nothing had form... but I was
still me, you know? And I was warm and I was
loved... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand
about dimensions or theology or any of ... but I think I
was in heaven.
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Spike stares, takes it in. She looks at him.
BUFFY: And now I'm not.
SPIKE: Buffy-BUFFY: I was torn out of there. My friends
pulled me out. And everything here is bright and hard and
violent. . . . Everything I feel, everything I touch...
this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the
one after that ... knowing what I've lost ...
She's said too much. He's speechless as she rises, starts
out of the alley. She pauses, not even looking back.
BUFFY: They can never know. Never.
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“Once More with Feeling,” BtVS 6.7
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
There was no pain
No fear, no doubt
‘Til they pulled me out of heaven
So that’s my refrain
I live in hell
‘Cause I was expelled from Heaven
I think I was in Heaven.
--Buffy in “Once More with Feeling”
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“That's what I was raised with. As much
as I learned Greek myths and as much as
I read Marvel Comics and watched The
Prisoner, I grew up around Christianity
and Judaism and those are the prevalent
myths and mythic structures of my
brain.”
--Joss Whedon (Miller, “The Man Behind
the Slayer”)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Joss Whedon’s Faith
•In “chosen” families
•In empowered women
•In the power of story
and the imagination
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Faith in:
Chosen
Families
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Faith in:
Empowered Women
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Faith in:
Empowered
Women
Empowered
Potentials in
“Chosen” (BtVS
7.22)
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“I am the fan that gets to have the most
fun. I get to walk the set every day. I
totally get to be there when the story's
broken. I get to do all of the fun bits.
Every day is fan day for me. That's who I
am. I'm the fan that got the closest.”
--Joss Whedon
Faith in:
The Power of Story and
Imagination
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“There’s a religion in
narrative.”
--Joss Whedon
Faith in:
The Power of Story and
Imagination
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Joss: A
Creative
Portrait of the
Maker of the
Whedonverses
--David Lavery
I. B. Tauris/St.
Martin’s (2011)
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"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
“I've had more luck than any 10 guys I know. I've
been able to tell my story more than a few times,
and that's the greatest gift. If I'm never given
that gift again, I still will have had it, and I'm
grateful for that. My gratitude has finally
exceeded my rage by a good, long margin, and
when I wake up in the morning with my work and
my family, gratitude is the thing that guides me,
not rage.”
--Joss Whedon
Amor fati: “Love your fate”-Nietzsche
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith
Thanks to Hillary Robson