Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz: A Study of Apocalyptic Cycles, Religion and Science, Religious Ethics and Secular Ethics, Sin and Redemption, and Myth and Preternatural Innocence

• Main Author: Smith, Cynthia M.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2006
• Subjects: myth; Graduate degree; Georgia State University; Walter Miller; Canticle for Leibowitz; masters thesis; Catholic; Christian; science fiction; science; religion; preternatural innocence; ethics; saint; monk; abbey; monastery; apocalyptic; nuclear war; catastrophe; Wandering Jew; mutant; Pope; New Rome; sin; redemption; faith; English Language and Literature
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/english_theses/10; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=english_theses

Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a timeless story about apocalyptic cycles, conflicts and similarities between religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, myth and preternatural innocence. Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific knowledge from the time before nuclear war which devastated the world and reduced humanity to a pre-technological civilization. The Catholic Church and this monastery are portrayed as a bastion of civilization amidst barbarians and a light of faith amidst atheism. Unfortunately, humanity destroys the Earth once again, but Miller ends with two beacons of hope: a starship headed for the unknown to help humanity begin again and the preternaturally innocent Rachel who portends a future for similarly innocent human beings repopulating the Earth. Thus, faith ultimately triumphs over atheism even in the midst of almost total catastrophe.