A CREED FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

✍ Scribed by Colleen McCullough

• Publisher: Futura
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 285
• Edition: 1st Avon
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

"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.