A more catholic science?

First Things is a Catholic magazine—that's Catholic with a capital C.

But many of us forget that small-c "catholic" means "universal" or "inclusive," which is why protestants like me still proclaim, "We believe… in the holy catholic church." I was reminded of this today, Resurrection Day, while reading this article from the April issue:

Most often the story is told like this: There is some feature of the world that science is at a loss to explain. Christians rush to claim that this feature can only be explained by God. Science later produces probable non-theistic hypotheses, and the Christians must beat a hasty retreat.

God and the Gaps by Ross McCullough

A lot of religions have done this, right? The sun rises because Apollo drives his chariot across the sky starting at dawn.

McCullough correctly points out that just because the Apollonian explanation is offered, that doesn't shut down all discussion; the chariot explanation is just one hypothesis, after all.

But what I wanted to mention today is that the empty tomb, or rather The Empty Tomb, is a phenomenon that materialists are so far unable to explain. That first Easter morning was filled with despair and resignation. When the body of Jesus was not in the tomb where it was laid, this resignation became wild hope and utter confusion. Panic and utter confusion also came to the guards (Matthew 28:4, 28:11-15).

How did this happen? Modern science, with its anti-religious materialistic prejudice, refuses to consider the possibility that God intervened in his world in this case. McCullough again:

Why exclude a class of possible answers? Why be atheistic as a matter of method? Why not, instead, choose a more catholic science, admitting a broader array of hypotheses, excluding conclusions based not on predetermined criteria but on what best fits the data?

Why not indeed? Today, Christians all over the world proclaim our answer: Jesus Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!