All Set Free
How God is Revealed in Jesus and Why That is Really Good News
- Theology
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2015
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Publisher's Description
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 Rene 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.
Endorsements (10)
“"All Set Free . . . is a challenging, provocative study which utilizes the mimetic theory of Rene Girard to reframe the perspective by which readers read the Bible.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“All Set Free is a fascinating integration of Rene Girard's mimetic theory with a biblical grounded Christian universalism. Every Sunday countless Evangelicals sing 'Come, Now is the Time to Worship.' Through a careful exposition of the relevant biblical passages, Distefano demonstrates the good news and literal truth of its chorus: 'One day every tongue will confess/One day every knee will bow. . .'”
“In All Set Free, Matthew Distefano offers his readers many gifts. For those asking new and intellectually challenging questions about God, he provides a map of the terrain, including areas which other maps cordon off with 'here there be monsters.' For those whose religious communities have ostracized them for their questions, he offers vulnerability and companionship. This is not a lawyer's brief, defending a position at all costs. Neither is it an expose, claiming to unmask deficient theologies. Rather, it displays the gift of joy that comes with discovering the God of peace.”
“So many of us are finding our way out of the penal atonement theory with all its prohibitions and implicit violence. In All Set Free, Matthew Distefano stands in this tradition and does it convincingly and with conviction. I hope many, sensing something wrong with Christianity, will read this book and be encouraged on their own journey toward a God who actually brings Good News.”
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