The Diary of Jesus Christ

by Bill Cain

While obviously not really the diary of Jesus Christ, here is a first-person account of the life of Jesus by noted Jesuit playwright Bill Cain. The diary places us inside Jesus's consciousness, where the spirit of discovery, surprise, learning, doubt, failure and growth is in sharp contrast to the canonical gospels where Jesus seems, from the start, self-assured and even predestined to fulfill his role. It is a bold attempt to understand the person whom more than two billion people claim as their savior.

Genres: Fiction, Spirituality, Religion

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2021

About the author

Bill Cain is an American playwright noted for an impish humor. He is the founder of the Boston Shakespeare Company, where he was Artistic Director for seven seasons, directing most of the Shakespeare canon. He is a Jesuit pries with teaching experience in New York's Lower East Side.

Reviews

[Rosina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly inspiring

Not for folks of shallow inflexible “belief”. For me a true accounting of Christ as a human. And wasn’t that the point of his 33 years among us?
Brilliant

[Peers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each chapter is short and has a great message. I find myself telling friends and family about these stories. I just bought 3 extra copies to give to friends. Highly recommend this book!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a meditative read. So much to think about and consider about Jesus as human and his family, friends, and apostles

[Liza Maggio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I think it's the best book I've read all year. It's so unexpected. This book gives Jesus such a real, human voice. Jesus is divine and human; I think reading/hearing the Gospels remind us of Christ's divinity. He is wise. He enacts miracles. He dies for humanity. He is petfect. This book embraces Christ's humanity: Jesus struggles, makes mistakes, enjoys women, enjoys wine and friends.
This book so beautifully portrays God's love for us. I wish I could see each of God's children as Jesus, as portrayed in this book, sees us.

Each diary entry, disarmingly written in modern dialect, begins almost flippantly, irreverantly, but ends with such deep reverant love, I cried.

A part of me just wants to keep reading and rereading this again and again to remind myself of how God sees us and to try to look as He does.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaching theology and psychology for over 40 years at a Catholic University I have read a great many books about Jesus, both scholarly and popular.. Bill Cain's is the perhaps the first one that brought me into a prayerfully and creatively imagined sense of the interiority and experience of the man who for many over the centuries was the human face of God. The entries are subtle, psychologically penetrating and infused with a sense of the authors intimacy with the Jesus he has come to know through a life time of prayerful personal engagement with the Gospel narratives. Reading it I felt like I was meeting Jesus again .. for the first time.

[Ann Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, if you are into these kinds of things, which I am. Cain is a playwright and screenwriter, so the journal is really lively. It chronicles Christ’s life from a young person to the ascension. Some of the funniest and pointed moments involve the women in Christ’s life. The Tridium is a bit philosophical, and I’m sure some deep philosophical and theological principles are at work, but it’s a all thought-provoking and a great way to think of Christ as God and human.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The diary of the man who was fully human and fully divine, brilliantly written by playwright, screenwriter and priest Bill Cain. These started out as homilies and I was privileged to hear some of them. To have them bound in chronological order of Jesus’ ministry is a gift. It’s a pleasure to read and re-read each chapter, each time finding a new nuance in a character.

[Dan Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly an incredible work of art. A masterpiece. This book has helped me work through some of the difficulties in my own life by helping me see Jesus as a living, breathing, loving person rather than as a distant character in a 2,000 year old book. I have been recommending this book to anyone who will listen.

[Pam Pulizzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories are great. I like the fresh perspective on how things could have unfolded especially if they had happened today. Some of it though, was too adult for my preferences. So although I enjoyed most of it I wouldn't recommend it.

[Laura Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read as to be expected of Bill Cain (gave us NOTHING SACRED and EQUIVOCATION). Cain riffs of a gospel story in the first person voice of Jesus. Made me smile and think at the same time. I highly recommend

[Mary Marsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book. Very inspiring and expansive.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover and title are bad. I would never have picked this up myself had it not been intentionally given. Hidden treasures within. Worth reading and rereading.