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Fiat Homo, Fiat Lux, Fiat Voluntas Tua. Miller's Canticle traces the future history of a post-apocalyptic Earth, stopping at three key periods to explore the lives of some of the men that shape that history. It explores every facet of human history: society, politics, economy, science, religion. Most of all science and religion. And with our detailed view of the monastery of Saint Leibowitz the Engineer, we see the interaction between those two camps in a very different light from the modern view of faith as antithetical to reason. Here, faith undergirds reason, preserving it, giving it meaning, and directing its course for many centuries. The events are taken from three stages of post-apocalyptic development, stages that can be compared to infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. In each stage, the question of what course humanity as a whole will choose is key, and this question is investigated primarily through the development of science through the efforts of the Order of St. Leibowitz. In the first section, Brother Francis discovers ancient documents that allow Beatus Leibowitz to be declared a Saint; humanity has only recently emerged from its frenzy of destruction and hatred, and now is the time for the Church to begin doing more than preserving ancient documents. It is the dawn of an era in which old information and methods can be actively pursued. The humor that permeates the first section contributes to the hopeful tone: the pilgrim's ornery interactions with Brother Francis, Brother Francis' frequent fainting spells, the mischeviously friendly Pope in New Rome. And we begin to see, among the diverse personalities of the abbey's clergy, a patient, steadfast concern for the preservation of the ancient knowledge in their possession. This invites comparison to the 20th century attitude toward religion as a very separate entity from science and true learning, if not its mortal enemy; indeed, in the Leibowitz abbey, the two have a symbiotic relationship that many (both religious and scientific) would decry as impossible. The section's hopeful tone is unexpectedly broken at the end of the chapter, when Brother Francis is abruptly killed for a bag of gold and is buried by the pilgrim that, in one sense, was the beginning of his journey. In hindsight, the warning is clear: humanity is a dangerous beast; consider this as the beast grows smarter. The second section witnesses the maturing of an active pursuit of knowledge, but men such as Dom Paulo and the mysterious Benjamin Eleazar view the imminent renaissance with apprehension.
Approximate Word count = 1566
Approximate Pages = 6.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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