Edwin E. OLSON. And God Created Wholeness: A Spirituality of Catholicity. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2018. Pp. 237. $28.00 pb. ISBN 978-1-62698-268-0.$28.00. Reviewed by Nathan R. KOLLAR, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY 14618.

Olson argues that “… an underlying dynamic of wholeness is the source and foundation of all things.” He does so through a “lens” that merges the physical, mental, and spiritual.  To do so he focuses on the territories and integration of quantum biology, consciousness, and spirituality to explore how they describe this wholeness and how, through metaphorical descriptors, we can come to understand these territories and their relatedness to us. He divides the book into three parts: Models of Wholeness, Achieving Wholeness, and Achieving Wholeness in Religion and Society.

This is a book in the Catholicity in an Evolving Universe series of which Ilia Delio is the General Editor. She also writes a foreword to the book in which, while praising the book, states that “If you are looking for a theological discussion on wholeness, then this is not the book for you.”  And in making such an assertion Delio highlights the challenge for a reviewer of a book like this in our fractured times: word usage.

Olson provides the reader with a glossary of scientific and religious terms used in the book which, as he says, differ, at least in part, from conventional usage. The glossary is a welcome and necessary addition to the book. More terms should have been included. To critique the book one would have to be knowledgeable in quantum biology, the major religions of the world, Olson’s unique vision of these disciplines,  authors such as Matt Fox, Karl Jung, and Marcelo Gleiseras, as  well as the products from presses such as Viriditas and  Inner Quest books.  If you are not familiar with authors and presses such as these there are many footnotes that help provide such clarification (many thanks to the editor who placed them at the end of the page).

If one is not interested in a critique and is already familiar with the worldviews mentioned above and wants to enter more deeply into this spirituality of catholicity, Olson offers the means to do so in six successive chapters titled: Deep Identity, Deep Relationships, Deep Ecology, Deep Moral Agency, Deep Spirituality, and Deep Community. For those who sense that their current life has lost the true depth of reality these chapters might be helpful.