At the CIS/ASA meeting this summer, I heard Michael Poole state that
C.A. Coulson was the first to use the term and did so in the early
1950's.
>
> John P. McKiness wrote:
> ..........................
> > As an aside to all on the list, Dr. Behe seems to think that the term "god
> > of the gaps" was coined by his critics. Seems to me that I have used it
> > much longer than his ideas have been expressed; does anyone know the history
> > of the term.
George Murphy replied>
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joel W. Cannon | (318)869-5160
Dept. of Physics | (318)869-5026 FAX
Centenary College of Louisiana | cannon@alpha.centenary.edu
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