Curating and hosting an astronomy program on 2RPH as I do, I would never expect to come across theological comments or thinking. Despite being a Christian, I understand that, even if they wanted to, physicists, mathematicians and cosmologists would have no practical way of factoring God into an equation. Sure there are mathematical statements of sorts in astronomy that have unknown variables (I'm looking at you, Drake equation!) but as a rule, God is not a part of the thinking, nor could be.

So it surprises me when I hear some prominent cosmologists talking about the 'God of the Gaps', which I assumed was a sarcastic poke at Christianity. It posits that we find God only in the those gaps in our knowledge about the universe, the mysterious bits, if you like. Man can explain the rest. Of course, as those 'gaps' are filled, God grows smaller.

The idea of a God of the Gaps emerged in the late 19th century and was theorized in an epoch when it seemed that science might explain everything, given time. It is certainly not a serious theological position for any church to hold, for it ties God (outside of Biblical revelation) into a system that must surely fail. The Bible holds that God created everything (we don't know how, of course) and he holds the whole shebang together. In this sense science becomes a marvellous tool for understanding, as best we can, how this creation unfolded.

As the Catholic Catechism holds, 'there is no conflict between good science and good theology.' Amen.