(Nashville, TN)—In her new book, The Conversation: An Intimate Journal of the Emmaus Encounter (Lederer Books/Messianic Jewish Publishers), author, speaker and founder of Logos Presentations Judy Salisbury readily admits that attributing words to Jesus apart from Scripture, based on the Luke 24 story, was a daunting task. It is rare for a Christian fiction book to include over 80 footnotes representing over 200 scriptural passages, but Salisbury wanted the account to be as biblically accurate as possible.
“I tried not to put any more words into the Stranger’s—Jesus’—mouth than were necessary to move the story along,” says Salisbury. “And ultimately, I felt a great weight of responsibility on my shoulders for writing a fictional book with the Risen Lord as the main character.”
More unique, Salisbury, an evangelical Christian and an apologist, has partnered with Messianic Jewish Publishers to release The Conversation: An Intimate Journal of the Emmaus Encounter. It was the distinctive focus of the book that caught the attention of Rabbi Baruch Rubin, president and publisher of Messianic Jewish Communications.
“What convinced me to publish The Conversation was the extremely creative way Judy Salisbury has for adding important material to the skeleton of the biblical text,” says Rubin. “Not only did she make the discussion between the biblical characters real, she wove together biblical prophecy in a way I have never seen done before. As someone dedicated to seeing Jewish people meet the true Messiah, I am grateful to Judy for responding to the Master’s challenge to write this book which will help Jews come to the Faith. Christians, too, will read a piece of historical fiction that will deepen their understanding of Yeshua [Jesus] in his post-resurrection moments and rejoice in its reality.”
“This book is for both Jewish and Gentile folks who seek answers to Jesus’ identity,” says Salisbury. “It is for Christians, Messianic Jews, and anyone interested in knowing more about the life of Jesus. It is truly an awesome Easter story that can be used to evangelize or to simply answer questions for themselves and others. This is the perfect gift for Jewish people because it answers actual objections many of them have.”
Salisbury has previously authored Reasons for Faith and is a contributing author for Is Your Church Ready?, co-edited by Dr. Norman Geisler and Ravi Zacharias. Salisbury is a certified lay counselor through the American Association of Christian Counselors, and for four years, co-hosted two radio programs. She is also on the board of directors for the International Society of Women in Apologetics (ISWA)as a trainer and adviser. Salisbury has been interviewed on a variety of radio programs including Beverly LaHaye Live, Midday Connection, Life Line, and Talk from the Heart, where she later appeared as a guest host. Salisbury debated an atheist and a Muslim on Lee Strobel’s national television program Faith Under Fire.
Based in Maryland, Messianic Jewish Communications has been impacting the lives of thousands of Jewish people with the Good News of Messiah since before World War II. Their books and tracts have been distributed in the Orthodox Jewish community, have been given out to Jews in the former Soviet Union, have been used by Messianic congregations and Jewish outreaches all over the world, but are primarily read by Christians reconnecting to their Jewish roots and who have hearts of Israel.
The mission of Messianic Jewish Communications is two-pronged: Reaching out to Jewish people with the message of Messiah and teaching non-Jewish people about their Jewish roots. The company includes various divisions to accomplish these goals including Lederer Books/Messianic Jewish Publishers, the only full-fledged Messianic Jewish publishing house. Messianic Jewish Resources International distributes a wide variety of books, videos, cassettes, CDs, educational computer software, Judaica, gifts from Israel and more. Messianic Jewish Ministries is the outreach arm of the company offering personal contact with inquiring Jewish and Christian people. And Messianic Jewish Church Programs is the division which brings nationally-known speakers to churches, preaching the word of God, teaching the Church, and reaching out to Jewish people with God’s love.