(miss murchison made me do this). creature demons vs. biblical demons? : comments.
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(no subject)
I think your idea is interesting, and plausible seeing as quite some screen time was devoted to the reiteration of Riley's faith. I'm not sure his faith was deepened, but I would argue that it was irrevocably changed.
I tended to see Riley as an example of the unquestioning, often extreme, conservatism prevalent in the military (I'm a military brat) and what happens when they realize the figures of authority are using them. But if one were to extend the general military metaphor to "soldiers of faith" and then reexamine Riley's arc, you'd have a point.
I'd try to make more of a point here, but those who know me know I post first, think much, much later.
Hope you develop this further, and I look forward to reading it here.
(no subject)
I think you're probably right about Riley being portrayed as far more of a representative of the institutional military rather than the institutional church (if you go by screen-time, at least: he shows up late for church once in "Who Are You?" in season 4, but otherwise his expressions of "faith" -- and therefore his crises of faith -- seem to be focused upon his commitment to the military and his self-image as being therefore "on the right side").
However, with a dearth of other candidates to represent actual church-going Christians in Sunnydale (in spite of Willow's comment about the Hellmouth vibes making people pray harder), it's also easy to see how Riley's faith can become a matter for much speculation.
btw, One of the first books I found really useful in my research might be of interest to you, also: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, by Jonathan Shea, M.D. (1995). Shea writes about the intertwining of losses of "faith" in various institutions (military, religious, and, of course, family) in bringing about the "berserker" and PTSD phenomena. He makes a big thing of the fact that armies, churches, and families all have a similar power to "create our reality" and therefore have incredible power to mess us up, when they prove to be dysfunctional or destructive.
(no subject)