A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr., 1960)

The intersection of science fiction and theology is rich with potential, and Walter M. Miller, Jr. was one of the first to explore it in his only novel released in his lifetime, A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Classic Western history texts always dutifully explain how the Church guided Europe through the "Dark Ages" following the collapse of the Roman Empire. Although studies have poked an increasing number of holes in this simple explanation, the endurance of the Church through politically turbulent times is one of the more noteworthy success stories in history. Miller, writing during some of the frostiest moments of the Cold War, speculates how the Church would continue in the aftermath of a global nuclear disaster and resultant second "Dark Age". Miller explores matters such as how alien our culture might seem to a future culture that has willingly divorced itself from scientific progress. How do secular and religious thinking work together (or against each other) to restore modernity? Would we been doomed to repeat the Dark Ages again and again and how many of these cycles could institutions such as the Church endure? Furthermore, in all of these big questions, Miller is also able to examine issues such as euthanasia, deformities, and the role of religion in interstellar travel. There is no shortage of debate throughout the book.

Two novels clearly influenced by this book are The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Each book related to a different aspect of this novel. In the case of the former, it is the concrete notion of the continuation of the Church into the future and the implication of going beyond Earth. Stephenson doesn't use the Church itself in his model, but instead examines the relationship between an educated, cloistered community and the wavering secular society over vast stretches of time. I highly recommend either of these books, especially if you are intrigued by A Canticle for Leibowitz.

A couple quibbles. The first is not Miller's fault, but simply the common problem of speculative fiction, which is not knowing then what we know now. In this case the Second Vatican Council is the key difference here, so we have a Church in (what used to be) North America that functions primarily on Latin. The other issue is more structural in nature. The three sections take place in different time periods, each far removed from the others chronologically, which can be very disorientating to the reader. Generally this strategy is employed in the larger multi-generational type novels, like James Michener's books. This is a shorter work, so Miller doesn't have much luxury to build a world before moving on to the next stage.