How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
For twelve centuries, a small flame of knowledge had been kept smoldering in the monasteries; only now were their mines ready to be kindled. (14.2)
Scientific knowledge is likened to a small flame, instantly connecting it to the myth of Prometheus. But isn't it God who provided the knowledge in the first place (if you're into that kind of thing)?
Quote #5
Benjamin shrugged again. "Very well. Forget that I asked it. But let's hope this thon will be on our side, and not with the others this time."
"Others, Benjamin?"
"Manasses, Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Caesar, Hannegan the Second—need I go on?" (16.150-152)
The theme of "Power" in A Canticle is about the tug-of-war between Church and State. Thon Taddeo's search for scientific truth is poised as the rope that these two institutions pull between them.
Quote #6
A time was agreed upon, and Dom Paulo felt relief. The esoteric gulf between Christian monk and secular investigator of Nature would surely be narrowed by a free exchange of ides, he felt. (19.65)
Dom Paulo's hope for the future is the combined ideals of Church and science. The free exchange of ideas seems a great idea, but Dom Paulo didn't consider that you need buyers as well as sellers.