Gould's contribution to the ongoing discussion of the relations of science and religion — which introduced the term NOMA, for "non-overlapping magisteria" — appeared in 1999 in the Library of Contemporary Thought. "I join nearly all people of goodwill in wishing to see two old and cherished institutions, our two rocks of ages — science and religion — coexisting in peace while each works to make a distinctive patch for the integrative coat of many colors that will celebrate the distinctions of our lives, yet cloak human nakedness in a seamless covering called wisdom", writes Gould in the final section of Rocks of Ages.