Walter M. Miller's A Canticle For Leibowitz Faith

Believing in something bigger then oneself is a basic human nature, and this is where spirituality comes. It may imply that believing in something bigger and stronger than oneself helps people to live on. In the novel A Canticle for Leibowitz faith plays a major part throughout the whole novel. Walter M. Miller Jr. put a strong emphasis on developing the importance of the Church even in the times of world destruction. It is important to note that faith is strongly linked with the knowledge that is left after the world destruction, and it is men of faith that hold all the knowledge of the past world that is needed to be passed to the future generations. "Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific …show more content…
While the ideas of the faith reigns strong; lost knowledge of technology makes the monks question what is the right thing to do. The dilemma rises as the monks has to choose the best option for the world either to give the lost knowledge of technology which would help humanity recover, but at the same time facing the risk that another apocalypse may rise destroying not all remaining humans, but the planet itself. The short story By the Waters of Babylon which is a direct allusion to the Psalm 137 which starts with the following words "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept". Waters of Babylon story closely revolves with the sayings of the psalm, and the story itself was written before the A Canticle for Leibowitz in 1943 both stories deals with the similar problems. "The north and the west and the south are good hunting ground, but it is forbidden to go east. It is forbidden to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for