> The term certainly wasn't coined in the last few years. _The Westminster
>Dictionary of Christian Theology_, published in 1983, has a separate entry
for it, but
>this deals with the concept & doesn't trace the history of the phrase
itself. Its use
>is often connected with Bonhoeffer, & especially with his later writings in
_Letters and
>Papers from Prison_. In a letter dated May 25th 1944 he says:
> "Weizsaecker's book on the world view of physics is still keeping me busy. It
> has brought home to me how wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the
> incompleteness of our knowledge."
> He deals at some length here with criticisms of "God as a stop-gap", meaning
>essentially our "God of the gaps." I don't know, though, if this is the
origin of the
>phrase & also don't have Bonhoeffer's German here.
>
> Shalom,
> George
>
>
Thank you George, I read most of Bonhoeffer's works during the 70's and he
has had a profound influence on me, but I didn't remember his using the
term. I do believe though that I came across it and started using it myself
by the mid 70's. I read so many books and articles during that time of
transition for me, that I am no longer certain where these things came from.
But thank you again,
John