All Set Free: How God is Revealed in Jesus and Why That is Really Good News

What is the ending to the human drama? Will all be reconciled to God in the end? Does God demand an altar, a corpse, and blood? Or, rather, is the Christian God set apart from all the other gods throughout history?



All Set Free sets out to answer some of the more difficult questions Christians today are faced with. It will challenge the Augustinian understanding of hell and the Calvinist understanding of the atonement; replacing them with a more Christ-centered understanding of both doctrines. This book will also use the work of René Girard in order to reshape how many understand "what it means to be human." Then and only then should we ask: "Who is God?"

Come explore what has become Matthew's theological pilgrimage to this point. Come discover the God of peace.

"All Set Free . . . is a challenging, provocative study which utilizes the mimetic theory of René Girard to reframe the perspective by which readers read the Bible."

--Michael Hardin, Executive Director of Preaching Peace, editor/author of eight books, including The Jesus Driven Life



"Distefano contributes an accessible yet accurate synthesis of how post-Evangelicals might integrate the discoveries of mimetic theory into an increasingly clear vision of the non-retributive God."

--Bradley Jersak, Author of A More Christlike God



"All Set Free . . . gives us a positive message of a nonviolent God whose deep attraction promises to make the rote prayer of 'your kingdom come...on earth' become thrilling human reality. A vital book for twenty-first-century Christianity."

--Anthony W. Bartlett, Author, Co-Founder and Contributing Theologian at Theology and Peace



"All Set Free is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature that challenges the inherited ideas of a violent God and a God for whom forgiveness and salvation depend on a propitiating death of Jesus."

--J. Denny Weaver, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Bluffton University



"In All Set Free, Distefano presents a way of reading the scriptures that will be new to many. And therein lies its value. We do not gain new insight by simply affirming what we already believe, we expand our thinking by exposing ourselves to ideas that might contradict our current beliefs. . . . A very timely book indeed."

--Andre Rabe, Founder of Always Loved Ministries and Author of Desire Found Me



Matthew J. Distefano is a regular contributor for The Raven Foundation. He is an outspoken advocate for global peace and non-violence. Matthew is married with one daughter and enjoys the great outdoors.