Reading Buffy Synopically: Musings on Slayerness

With respect to the Slayer power issues associated particularly in season seven, just as there is a contradiction in Christian history between egalitarianism (the ministry of all believers) and the hierarchical (the various offices—charismatic, patriarchal-patrimonial, and bureaucratic—that go back to Paul) there is a contradiction in the Buffyverse between the egalitarianism, potential and actual, of the Slayers and the Potentials and the leading role Buffy and to a lesser extent Faith play in the battle against the First in season seven. Of course, age and longevity are a factor in Buffy’s and Faith’s leading roles in the battles against the First which is why Buffy and again to a lesser extent Faith act as teacher to the Potentials. Age and the experience that age brings is the great unequaliser and is related to growing up, something that is one of the major themes of the series.