Mary FROHLICH, Breathed into Wholeness: Catholicity and Life in the Spirit. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2019. pp. 242. $28.00 pb. ISBN 9781626983489. Reviewed by Kathleen BORRES, Retired from Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, PA 15650.

Mary Frohlich’s Breathed into Wholeness: Catholicity and Life in the Spirit is a well-thought out, rich commentary on the meaning of catholicity in relationship to the flourishing of the human person and the whole of the cosmos. Frohlich explores what it means to be whole, to become whole, and to live for the whole “from within.” She explains why her approach “from within” – as opposed to “from above” or “from below” – allows for not only a richer appreciation for the interdependency of all created realities but a greater sense of the dynamic, organic reality to the whole of creation and all its particulars. There is a dynamic force – founded in and governed by the Spirit – that not only grounds the whole of creation and all its particulars but also aims for a drawing of all things into one with God.

There is a certain panentheism to Frohlich’s approach, as she admits, but she acknowledges that her approach is not without purpose. “Our approach in this book has some elements in common with what Clayton [who defines four faces of Panentheism in an article published in Zygon in 2017] terms ‘mystical’ or ‘apophatic’ panentheism, which discovers in God the radical interconnection of all things and articulates it by drawing upon scientific as well as aesthetic analogies” (14). To this point, drawing on an analogy of a field, she writes, “the field pervades an extensive environment and produces measurable effects” (22) and “the divine Spirit-field is eternal because it is simultaneously present to all of history and all of life. Thus, the field analogy for Spirit offers a view that combines the independence of creation with God’s eternity” (22-23). Stated differently, Frohlich respects the independent work of scientists (physical, psychological, social, etc.) and is willing to draw on the physical and social sciences to show how recent studies/theories concerning the cosmos, human development, etc. provide a wealth of resources for theological reflection. She does not reduce God to a scientific or psychological theory, to an experience of any sort, however. In her approach, God is an independent actor to which all created realities are ultimately subject.

Still, to avoid some of the problems associated with panentheistic approaches, it might have been better if she had spoken more directly in these opening pages of the eternal nature of God’s Being apart from God’s presence “to all of history and all of life” (23). I believe she could have done so without compromising her purpose for the book or any of the fundamentals associated with her “from within” approach. That said, her appreciation for the apophatic and for a certain indeterminate, open book approach to knowing (and thus controlling) the realities of this world associated with both wave form fields in quantum physics and theories of personhood seem to me to not only accomplish the purpose of the work but to contribute to a greater humility before God. In discussing “the apophatic self,” she writes, “rather than theology being done by a human being who speaks in interpretation of God, it is God who speaks directly through the ‘empty’ theologian” (132). The “empty” theologian is one in whom “the apophatic dimension [ultimately an experience of the Spirit] becomes the predominant experience. This is articulated as an unknowing in which one has a conviction of knowing truth and being moved at a depth never experienced before, yet without knowing in the usual cognitive and intellectual sense” (140).

In terms of the structure of the book, there are three parts. In Part I of the book, Frohlich lays out the fundamentals of her approach, e.g., her “from within” approach with a special focus on a) the biblical images of wind and breath for the Spirit’s creative, transformative, intimate and mysterious actions in the world and b) religious and spiritual experiences that reveal a “’catholicizing’ movement of the spirit” (30). In Part II, she discusses different scientific and psychological theories and explores the implications of these theories for our understanding of a catholic personality, that is, the kind of openness one needs to respond to the whole as founded in and governed by the “Spirit-Field.” She beautifully explains the “crisis of Anthropocene” with its “liquid modernity” (a term Zygmunt Nauman uses), its mechanization of time and the disembedding of space, its technologization of communications and the permeation of daily life by media, and its commodification of everything, even a “self.” Finally, in Part III, drawing on the image of breath and the theological tradition, she explores the implications of all of the above on spiritual practice. She writes of “breathing in” as the way of emptying, “breathing out” as the way of remembering, and “breathing with” the Spirit into mission.

The way of emptying about which she writes is not a self-emptying, as if such a thing was even possible, but a self-surrendering of the human person to the Spirit. As she writes, “the Spirit is the force of infinite love breathing us inward to the apophatic depths of the Father and outward into participation in the Son’s salvific action” (147). The way of remembering complements the way of emptying in that the Spirit “‘breathes out’ into co-creation of our psychological selves, our relationships, and our actions” (175). Stated differently, our self-defining stories evolve through the great story of God’s love at work in our remembering; more precisely, in our “remembering of God . . . the stories of God’s active presence among the people of God, and . . . one’s own story in the presence of God” (175). Finally, in the closing chapter of Part III, Frohlich discusses what “breathing with” the Spirit into mission entails. The chapter integrates into its pages many of the points discussed throughout the book and attends especially to the reality that not all is harmonious in mission work. From both a personal and ecclesial perspective, “becoming whole” is not reducible to “harmonious oneness” (204) but involves respect for the “diverse, creative, dynamic, and tensive” (205) realities that abound in this world’s complex web of physical and spiritual interests. Stated differently, “breathed into wholeness” is not about uniformity of all things but respect for catholicity and a “burgeoning differentiation” grounded in and purposed by the Spirit of God.

Breathed into Wholeness: Catholicity and Life in the Spirit would be a very suitable text for graduate studies in theology, spirituality, and pastoral studies.