Customer Reviews

A Creed for the Third Millennium

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You know the story. The child Jesus Christ is born during the reign of Caesar Augustus, despite the efforts of the local monarch Herod. He reaches adulthood during the reign of Augustus's hand-picked successor Tiberius, and preaches a message of spiritual renewal to an oppressed population. His apostle Judas Iscariot acts as his ministry's manager, but later betrays him to the government. The story is later told for the ages by a Gentile named Luke.

This book translates that story into the not-too-distant future. Unfortunately the translation is rather sophomoric. Dr. Joshua Christian (Jesus Christ) is born during the presidency of Augustus "Gus" Rome. His story unfolds during the presidency of Augustus's hand-picked successor Tibor Reece (Tiberius), when the government invents "Operation Messiah" in order to bring a message of spiritual renewal to an oppressed citizenry, despite the reluctance of Cabinet secretary Harold Magnus (Herod). Christian's advocate Judith Carrioll (Judas Iscariot) manages the project, to his ultimate detriment, while hired biographer Lucy Greco (Luke the Greek) tells his story for the masses.

"Creed" is both less and more than a simple analogy for a time-transplanted gospel. Despite the many unsubtle analogies to the New Testament, "Operation Messiah" does not follow--cannot follow--the story of Jesus too literally, so author Colleen McCullough experiments with twists on the story in its twenty-first-century setting. Sometimes her twists makes sense, but more often they do not, and they leave the reader wondering where she was trying to go with her story. She may not have known herself. But she paints an interesting twenty-first-century America, despairing over climatic and economic changes, whose government goes searching for someone "capable of teaching a sick nation how to heal itself" and finds--then elevates--a made-to-order messiah.

Even though this book slathers on the parallel names and other biblical analogs a little too thickly, I did enjoy it. The plot left much to be desired, but the writing was very good, the narrative flowed easily (even when the author seemed unsure about where it was flowing to), and the story was occasionally thought-provoking. The book was not deep, but it was engaging, and in the end a satisfying read if you are looking for entertainment and not philosophy.

"Creed" is an unexpected offering from one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Colleen McCullough's "Tim" and "The Thornbirds" are two of my favorite books, but I don't usually admit to being a fan since these stories are somewhat simplistic romances. This book is very different from her other works. While the writing style is still quite simple and her symbolism is much too obvious, the novel offers a thought-provoking vision of a not-too-distant and all-too-possible future. The creation of a modern day messiah through the government's manipulation of the media is a fascinating premise. This book makes me a little less shy about admitting that I am a McCullough fan.

I read this years ago and it stays with me. I looked it up just now to recommend it to a friend. I didn't feel that this book should be so simply explained as an attempt to rehash the story of the New Testament. I feel that it showed the fallacy of Man and Orwellian government at the start of the New Millennium attempting to artificially create a passion similar to that of Jesus to appease and inspire the demoralized dumb masses. I see parallells of this book in our society today. I hope that having read "Stranger In a Strange Land" didn't affect my perception of this book to much, because comparisons can be made with it also. This was not written for the "Thornbirds" crowd. "Creed for the Third Millennium" is worth reading and thinking about.

Ms. McCullough is a gifted writer who is not afraid to explore different genres. Here, she posits a United States facing a 21st Century Ice Age (when she wrote it global cooling, not global warming was in vogue). As futurism, that is one heck of an intriguing premise. But the tale falls short. She posits a new Messiah (whose surname is the rather trite "Christian") and, as his protagonist, a witch of a government bureaucrat who "makes" the poor chump into an international icon. The story plods along until its rather predictable ending. Well, not every work can be a masterpiece, and it is unfortunate that this one didn't make it because it sure had potential.

This being said, I would make a great movie!

I loved Colleen McCullough's Rome series, but this book is terrible. It's hard to believe the same author wrote these books. The characters are totally cheesy and one-dimensional, and the story lacks any subtlety. The Christ figure is named Joshua Christian, and his betrayer is named Judith. Give me a break! Give the readers a little more credit for being intelligent and figuring out the biblical analogy on their own.

"Creed" imagines a future world menaced by ice. North American society has taken mainly to the warmer climates in order to escape the descending glaciers, and nobody's very happy about it. While war and international strife are all but gone, life expectancy is at an all-time low, overpopulation is a dominant issue, and it looks like man's days are finally numbered.

So the President orders a search. A search to find a person who can cheer everyone up. They find a psychologist by the name of Joshua Christian. Mr. Christian serves as a media-born Messiah figure, guiding a crippled civilization into the dim light of hope and salvation.

An interesting concept, sure, but McCullough does little to keep things together here. The writing style is utterly superficial and borderline-laughable, is utterly riddled with cliches. The dialogue isn't much better. There's some insight to be found in here, but it's buried far too deep beneath the author's almost-shameless preachiness.

Most certainly not one of McCullough's finest moments, and most deservedly out-of-print, "Creed" is worth an expedition to the used-book store only if you're a fan of McCullough and/or the post-apocalyptic novel. You'd be a lot better off with McCullough's other work, and might I suggest Stephen King's "The Stand" if you're looking for a truly fine novel of Christianity at the end of the world.

Wow! How incredible to have just finished this book only a few days before the horrific attack on America. Much of the "story" is predictable, in some places tedious, however, the concepts have merit in the futuristic setting. The parallels to the life of Christ, government controls, and some hint of world-wide unity were indicative of the resources and talent of the author. I've read nearly all of her books and am a big fan of the "Ceaser Series".

This work is not about rehashing the passion of Christ. It is more about how even the more stable among us can get caught up in hero worship, how we turn on our heros and of course shadowy government manipulation in times of crisis.

Essentially there is nothing wrong with this book - in fact it is very compelling and readable and as such deserves a 4 star rating.

Still in saying that I wonder what made Colleen write about such a religious event but duplicated in the future? It is not offensive in my mind but others who take the Christian religion seriously may see this book as blasphemy.

Others like me who are not so worried will find this an easy and entertaining read that will leave you feeling a trifle sad about the world she has created in this novel.

Having read "Thornbirds", "Ladies of Missalongi", and presently reading "First Man in Rome", I am amazed at the variety of literary style McCullough has; however, this is certainly one of her more simplistic styles. There is no guessing what will happen because the reader quickly realizes Judith Carrol is Judas Iscariot, and the main character is Christ all placed in the future. The interesting twist is relating the idea to a twisted, sick love and admiration for someone, a person that must be controlled somehow. In that respect, there may be many who can relate to the idea of a power struggle within a relationship. I guess I simply got caught up in the idea of a type of second coming or more of a rehash of the first coming...as if it needed to happen again because it wasn't perfect enough the first time around. With that in mind, the ending seems fruitless and somehow, so did my reading of this book. Better to introduce yourself to this wonderful writer by reading "Thornbirds" or her Roman series.