<\/div>\n
And I\u2019ll further admit my bias up front. The device used to explore theology in this book (both in the imagery and in the narrative) is that of keys unlocking doors. Specifically:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Throne Room Key: The Doctrine of God\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2020\/11\/EIK-300x210.png\")
<\/a>Image: Crossway<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
<\/a>The Dust Key:\u00a0 The Doctrine of Humanity<\/div>\n
The Serpent Key: The Doctrine of Sin<\/div>\n
The Tomb Key: The Doctrine of Christ<\/div>\n
The Spirit Key: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit<\/div>\n
The Gavel Key: The Doctrine of Salvation<\/div>\n
The Temple Key: The Doctrine of the Church<\/div>\n
The Throne Key: The Doctrine of the Last Things<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My bias is that long before reading this book I read the Locke and Key <\/i><\/a>series by Joe Hill (Stephen King\u2019s son), and frankly that\u2019s going to be a tough work to top either in imagery or narrative.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Likewise, I\u2019m always going to be a bit biased against the clunky language required to use the second person. I was raised on\u00a0Choose Your Own Adventure\u00a0<\/em>books. While I loved them as a kid, even then I knew I wasn\u2019t reading Shakespeare. But those books weren\u2019t even really trying to do anything other than sell mass quantities. Mixing the awkward \u201cyou look slowly around yourself\u201d language with elevated concepts and themes found in Christianity and, well, it\u2019s a challenge for me, to say the least.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Okay, enough with the disclaimers: On to the review!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is a fairly straightforward introductory systematic theology, written as a loose narrative and with pictures. For example, as the introduction to the doctrine of Christ:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cEverything goes dark when you turn the key. But it\u2019s a different kind of dark, the kind of dark you felt in the void before the world was made. This is the dark you feel right before morning dawns The kind that seems to be waiting for sunlight to conquer it.<\/div>\n
And after a while, the soft light of day finally breaks in, allowing you to see the surroundings you\u2019ve only been able to smell and touch thus far.\u201d (\u201cThe Tomb Key\u201d)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This the a lead up to the revelation that \u2018you\u2019 are standing in Christ\u2019s empty tomb on Resurrection Sunday, which is a jumping off point for an exploration of the person and work of Christ. The theology is clear, articulate, and, most importantly, accurate. The same can be said of every other chapter in this book.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Which leaves me really not knowing what to think or how to judge\u00a0Emblems of the Infinite King<\/em>.\u00a0The theology is good. The art is beyond my capacity to judge. And the narrative style isn\u2019t my speed, but maybe second person is in with the kids these days?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The bigger question is whether this is the kind of book is prophetic or eccentric. That is, is it a a forerunner for a shift in Christian media style? Or is it just a passing oddity? Frankly, this could go either way.\u00a0 And I know, I know, it came out a year ago (sorry Crossway, my to-read stack is tall), so technically this book could already be established as either. There might be a torrent of second person and\/or graphic Christian books already on the way. (I mean, not\u00a0graphic<\/em>, but, you know,\u00a0illustrated<\/em>.) In which case this book was ahead of its time. Or there might not be, in which case this book is a stand-alone work that is of interest because of its content, but not necessarily because of its place in a developing trend.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Fortunately, the content is solid and, aside from the art that I can\u2019t\/won\u2019t judge, worthwhile for those interested in a unique systematic theology. So far as that goes, I am happy to recommend it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the\u00a0City of Man Podcast<\/a>\u00a0and an Associate Professor of Political Science at\u00a0Southwest Baptist University<\/a>\u00a0in Bolivar, MO<\/em><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Gospel in pictures?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Review of "Emblems of the Infinite King" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gospel in pictures?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Review of "Emblems of the Infinite King" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Schaeffer's Ghost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-13T15:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-06T21:46:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2020\/11\/EIK.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/\",\"name\":\"The Gospel in pictures?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-13T15:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-06T21:46:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\"},\"description\":\"Review of \\\"Emblems of the Infinite King\\\" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Gospel in pictures?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\",\"name\":\"Schaeffer's Ghost\",\"description\":\"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\",\"name\":\"Coyle Neal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Coyle Neal\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Gospel in pictures?","description":"Review of \"Emblems of the Infinite King\" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Gospel in pictures?","og_description":"Review of \"Emblems of the Infinite King\" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/","og_site_name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","article_published_time":"2020-11-13T15:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-06T21:46:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":538,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2020\/11\/EIK.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Coyle Neal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Coyle Neal","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/","name":"The Gospel in pictures?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-13T15:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-06T21:46:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e"},"description":"Review of \"Emblems of the Infinite King\" by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2020\/11\/the-gospel-in-pictures\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Gospel in pictures?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/","name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","description":"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e","name":"Coyle Neal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Coyle Neal"},"description":"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Review of “Emblems of the Infinite King” by J. Ryan Lister and Anthony M. Benedetto (illustrator)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1469,"featured_media":7525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-christian"],"yoast_head":"\n