With the Christian book market booming, it's no surprise David Gregory focused on religion as the topic of his slim new novel. But his premise is as startling as it gets: An everyday guy gets a dinner invitation from . . . Jesus?

Gregory might as well have sent aliens down in a spaceship.

Gregory's Dinner With a Perfect Stranger is getting a major promotional push from its publisher, Waterbrook Press, which has ordered an unusually large print run (180,000 copies), according to Publishers Weekly - not to mention sending out 10,000 advance copies to those who might spread the word: booksellers, ministers, hospice workers and more.

It's no wonder the publisher is excited. With the Christian manual The Purpose-Driven Life selling millions, Waterbrook is no doubt seeing dollar signs along with its dogma.

The book begins with the narrator receiving an invitation to dine with Jesus of Nazareth. Besides wondering how he can work the date into his 72-hour workweeks and harried home life (he's already in the doghouse for leaving his wife with most of the child-care duties), he's convinced that someone is playing a practical joke on him.

But he goes anyway, settling in across from a thirtysomething man in a blue business suit.

As Jesus drops facts of the narrator's life that an imposter couldn't have known and deftly deflects his dinner partner's skepticism about religion, comparing and contrasting Christianity with Islam, Buddhism and other spiritualities, the narrator is soon drawn into the discussion. By book's end, he's left with many of his doubts about Christianity deftly put to rest.

The book serves as an easy-to-read primer on basic Christian beliefs, though some will surely take issue with its simplistic ideas. Gregory distills complicated theology into 100 pages that could easily fit inside a Christmas stocking.

On the other hand, it offers interesting tidbits you won't find in your average Bible. For those who would prefer to save $12.95, here's a sneak peek: Jesus writes on Crane stationery and eats Italian.