(photo by Erika Loen)

The Secret Book of Jesus

"Do you marvel at this, that such things are said by a child? Why don't you believe me? You all marvel because I said to you that I know when you and your parents were born. I'll tell you greater things, so that you may marvel more. I've seen Abraham, whom you call your father, and I've spoken with him; and he's seen me. Even when the world was created, I and the one who sent me to you existed. I've been among you with children, and you haven't known me. I've spoken to you as to wise men, and you haven't understood my words, because you're younger than I am, and of little faith. I taunted you! Because I know that you're amazed by small things and have tiny little minds."

from "The Secret Book of Jesus"

Praise for The Secret Book of Jesus

"Clearly one of the best writers in Minnesota."

-Dean Hatton, Marceau-trained mime

"...I’ve always loved that strange, obscure, folk-loric take on Jesus…stories that didn’t make the cut into the Canon we know as the Bible."

-Kay Kirscht, spoken-word artist

"...there’s a surprising fan-type of reverence here. And I’m not sure that Phillip’s delivering what he believes cloaks greater truth, but he’s a messenger you’re pleased to welcome."

-Tom Cassidy, spoken-word artist

"This show IS for people who want to experience the wonder of the kind of storytelling that went on as the good news passed from person to person, village to village. These wonder tales were a cottage industry - and what were people to do with the structures of myth and fable once a new hierarchy of saints, angels and the Lord and Spirit walked among us but continue to express their own amazing imaginations in service to the sacred? Consider them the tall tales of the growing mind of the us, the Body of Christ. Phillip should have an opportunity to make this more available simply because it shows the religion that became dogmatic and “correct” at its most human and horizontal - that is, relatable. All I could say at the end and edge of my seat was WOW! And Bravo!"

-audience member

About the Show

A dark child, tinged by holy madness, bearing strange powers, prone to deadly bursts of rage. Based on a lost infancy gospel, come hear the secret origin of young Jesus.

This collection of song and story, poetry and pantomime, explores the (largely forgotten) tradition that sprang up around members of the Holy Family. Using a combination of scholarship and performance art, this unique blend of heresy and faith promises to be a controversial and thought-provoking event.

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