Creatio ex nihilo (Latin for "creation out of nothing") is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. [1] It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe came to exist. It is in contrast to creatio ex materia, sometimes framed in terms of the dictum Ex nihilo nihil fit or "nothing comes from nothing", meaning all things were formed ex materia (that is, from pre-existing things).
Creatio ex materia refers to the idea that matter has always existed and that the modern cosmos is a reformation of pre-existing, primordial matter; it sometimes articulated by the philosophical dictum that nothing can come from nothing. [2]
In ancient near eastern cosmology, the universe is formed ex materia from eternal formless matter, [3] namely the dark and still primordial ocean of chaos. [4] In Sumerian myth this cosmic ocean is personified as the goddess Nammu "who gave birth to heaven and earth" and had existed forever; [5] in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, pre-existent chaos is made up of fresh-water Apsu and salt-water Tiamat, and from Tiamat the god Marduk created Heaven and Earth; [6] in Egyptian creation myths a pre-existent watery chaos personified as the god Nun and associated with darkness, gave birth to the primeval hill (or in some versions a primeval lotus flower, or in others a celestial cow); [7] and in Greek traditions the ultimate origin of the universe, depending on the source, is sometimes Oceanus (a river that circles the Earth), Night, or water. [8]
Similarly, the Genesis creation narrative opens with the Hebrew phrase bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz, which can be interpreted in at least three ways:
Though option 1 has been the historic and predominant view, [10] it has been suggested since the Middle Ages that it cannot be the preferred translation based on strictly linguistic and exegetical grounds. [11] Whereas our modern societies see the origin of matter as a question of crucial importance, this may not have been the case for ancient cultures. Some scholars assert that when the author(s) of Genesis wrote the creation account, they were more concerned with God bringing the cosmos into operation by assigning roles and functions. [12]
Creatio ex nihilo is the doctrine that all matter was created out of nothing by God in an initial or a beginning moment where the cosmos came into existence. [13] [14] It has been suggested that ex nihilo creation can also be found in creation stories from ancient Egypt (the Memphite Theology), [15] the Rig Veda (X:129, also known as Nasadiya Sukta), [16] and many animistic cultures in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and North America. [17] The third-century founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus, argued that the cosmos was distinct from God but was instead an emanation from God. This idea was rejected by Christian thinkers of the time on the basis of the creatio ex nihilo concept, and was also later rejected by Arabic and Hebrew philosophers. [18]
Although ancient near eastern cosmology is widely seen as invoking a process of creatio ex materia , [19] [20] occasional suggestions have been made that the concept of creatio ex nihilo can be found at least in some texts, including the Egyptian Memphite Theology and the Genesis creation narrative. [15] Hilber has rejected these interpretations, viewing both as consistent with creatio ex materia, but instead suggests some passages in the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Proverbs, and the Psalms might indicate a notion of creatio ex nihilo. [21] The cosmogonical doxologies of the Book of Amos also present a view of creation ex-nihilo. [22]
One view is that the earliest statement articulating the concept of creatio ex nihilo is attributed to a Jewish text from ~100 BC, 2 Maccabees: [23] [24] "I implore you, my child, observe heaven and earth, consider all that is in them, and acknowledge that God made them out of what did not exist, and that mankind comes into being the same way" (2 Macc. 7:28). [25] Others, however, have argued against interpreting Maccabees in this way. [26] [27] Other historians have disputed the presence of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo among pre-Christian Jewish authors, on the basis of the sparsity of possible relevant texts in Jewish later to the concept, the large number of Jewish texts from this period which unambiguously posit creatio ex materia, and the general disinterest in creatio ex nihilo prior to medieval rabbinic writers. [28]
In the first century, Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenized Jew, lays out the basic idea of ex nihilo creation, though he is not always consistent, he rejects the Greek idea of the eternal universe and he maintains that God has created time itself. [29] In other places it has been argued that he postulates pre-existent matter alongside God. [30] But other major scholars such as Harry Austryn Wolfson see that interpretation of Philo's ideas differently and argue that the so-called pre-existent matter was created. [31]
Saadia Gaon introduced ex nihilo creation into the readings of the Jewish bible in the 10th century CE in his work Book of Beliefs and Opinions where he imagines a God far more awesome and omnipotent than that of the rabbis, the traditional Jewish teachers who had so far dominated Judaism, whose God created the world from pre-existing matter. [32] Today Jews, like Christians, tend to believe in creation ex nihilo, although some Jewish scholars maintain that Genesis 1:1 allows for the pre-existence of matter to which God gives form. [33]
Jewish philosophers of the 9th and 10th century adopted the concept of "yesh me-Ayin", contradicting Greek philosophers and Aristotelian view that the world was created out of primordial matter and/or was eternal. [34]
Mainstream Christians believe that originally there was nothing except for a single, infinite and eternal God and that God alone brought all matter, energy, time, and space into existence out of nothing. [35] That belief developed in the second century of the Christian era. [36]
The doctrine of creation ex nihilo was also widely adopted in Christian circles from an early period. It received its first explicit articulation by Theophilus of Antioch in a work of his known as To Autolycus in a chapter titled Absurd Opinions of the Philosophers Concerning God.: "As, therefore, in all these respects God is more powerful than man, so also in this; that out of things that are not He creates and has created things that are" (2.4). [37] [38] Creation ex nihilo had become a fundamental tenet of Christian theology by the 3rd century. [39] [40] In late antiquity, John Philoponus was its most prominent defender. [41]
In modern times some Christian theologians argue that although the Bible does not explicitly mention creation ex nihilo, it gains validity from the tradition of having been held by so many for so long; and others find support in modern cosmological theories surrounding the Big Bang. [42] Some examine alternatives to creatio ex nihilo, such as the idea that God created from his own self or from Christ, but this seems to imply that the world is more or less identical with God; or that God created from pre-existent matter, which at least has biblical support, but this implies that the world does not depend on God for its existence. [42] The notion of creatio ex nihilo also underlies modern arguments for the existence of God among Christian and other theistic philosophers, especially as articulated in the cosmological argument [43] and its more particular manifestation in the Kalam cosmological argument. [44]
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not believe, as do traditional Christians, that God created the universe ex nihilo (from nothing). [45] Rather, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the act of creation is to organize or reorganize pre-existing matter or intelligence. [46]
Most scholars of Islam share with Christianity and Judaism the concept that God is a First Cause and absolute Creator; He did not create the world from pre-existing matter. [47] [48] However, some scholars, adhering to a strict literal interpretation of the Quran such as Ibn Taimiyya whose sources became the fundament of Wahhabism and contemporary teachings, hold that God fashioned the world out of primordial matter, based on Quranic verses. [49] [ verification needed ]
The Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1 says before the world was manifested, there was only existence, one unparalleled (sat eva ekam eva advitīyam). Swami Lokeshwarananda commented on this passage by saying "something out of nothing is an absurd idea". [50]
Stoicism, founded by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC, includes the belief that creation out of nothing is impossible and that Zeus created the world out of his own being. [51]
The Big Bang theory, in contrast to theology, is a scientific theory; it offers no explanation of cosmic existence but only a description of the first few moments of that existence. [52] [53]
In the philosophy of religion, a cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of God based upon observational and factual statements concerning the universe typically in the context of causation, change, contingency or finitude. In referring to reason and observation alone for its premises, and precluding revelation, this category of argument falls within the domain of natural theology. A cosmological argument can also sometimes be referred to as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, the causal argument or the prime mover argument.
Creation or The Creation may refer to:
A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths – metaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths – that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.
A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.
Chaos is the mythological void state preceding the creation of the universe in ancient near eastern cosmology and early Greek cosmology. It can also refer to an early state of the cosmos constituted of nothing but undifferentiated and indistinguishable matter.
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1–3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life and becoming immortal.
Creatio ex materia is the notion that the universe was formed out of eternal, pre-existing matter. This is in contrast to the notion of creatio ex nihilo, where the universe is created out of nothing. The idea of creatio ex materia is found in ancient near eastern cosmology, early Greek cosmology such as is in the works of Homer and Hesiod, and across the board in ancient Greek philosophy. It was also held by a few early Christians, although creatio ex nihilo was the dominant concept among such writers. After the King Follet discourse, creatio ex materia came to be accepted in Mormonism.
Religious cosmology is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe from a religious perspective. This may include beliefs on origin in the form of a creation myth, subsequent evolution, current organizational form and nature, and eventual fate or destiny. There are various traditions in religion or religious mythology asserting how and why everything is the way it is and the significance of it all. Religious cosmologies describe the spatial lay-out of the universe in terms of the world in which people typically dwell as well as other dimensions, such as the seven dimensions of religion; these are ritual, experiential and emotional, narrative and mythical, doctrinal, ethical, social, and material.
The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity, told in the Book of Genesis ch. 1–2. While the Jewish and Christian tradition is that the account is one comprehensive story modern scholars of biblical criticism identify the account as a composite work made up of two stories drawn from different sources.
The Kalam cosmological argument is a modern formulation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It is named after the Kalam from which many of its key ideas originated. Philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig was principally responsible for revitalizing these ideas for modern academic discourse through his book The Kalām Cosmological Argument (1979), as well as other publications.
Genesis 1:1 is the first verse of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and the opening of the Genesis creation narrative.
In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separated the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during the Genesis creation narrative to separate the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear.
Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and multidisciplinary scholar who directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He formerly taught for sixteen years as a tenured professor at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho and before that a philosophy professor at Eastern Nazarene College. Oord is the author or editor of more than thirty books and hundreds of articles. He is known for his contributions to research on love, open theism, process theism, open and relational theology, postmodernism, the relationship between religion and science, Wesleyan, holiness, Nazarene theology.
Allegorical interpretations of Genesis are readings of the biblical Book of Genesis that treat elements of the narrative as symbols or types, rather than viewing them literally as recording historical events. Either way, Judaism and most sects of Christianity treat Genesis as canonical scripture, and believers generally regard it as having spiritual significance.
Tohu wa-bohu or Tohu va-Vohu is a Biblical Hebrew phrase found in the Genesis creation narrative that describes the condition of the earth immediately before the creation of light in Genesis 1:3.
Since the emergence of the Big Bang theory as the dominant physical cosmological paradigm, there have been a variety of reactions by religious groups regarding its implications for religious cosmologies. Some accept the scientific evidence at face value, some seek to harmonize the Big Bang with their religious tenets, and some reject or ignore the evidence for the Big Bang theory.
Although biological evolution has been vocally opposed by some religious groups, many other groups accept the scientific position, sometimes with additions to allow for theological considerations. The positions of such groups are described by terms including "theistic evolution", "theistic evolutionism" or "evolutionary creation". Of all the religious groups included on the chart, Buddhists are the most accepting of evolution. Theistic evolutionists believe that there is a God, that God is the creator of the material universe and all life within, and that biological evolution is a natural process within that creation. Evolution, according to this view, is simply a tool that God employed to develop human life. According to the American Scientific Affiliation, a Christian organization of scientists:
A theory of theistic evolution (TE) — also called evolutionary creation — proposes that God's method of creation was to cleverly design a universe in which everything would naturally evolve. Usually the "evolution" in "theistic evolution" means Total Evolution — astronomical evolution and geological evolution plus chemical evolution and biological evolution — but it can refer only to biological evolution.
The meta-historical fall is an understanding of the biblical fall of man as a reality outside of empirical history that affects the entire history of the universe. This understanding of the human fall is a minority view among Christian theologians and associated by some with what they consider heresies, such as belief in the pre-existence of souls.
The Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea is a fourth-century Greek commentary on the Genesis creation narrative. It is the first known work in this genre by a Christian, although it was preceded by Jewish writings like the De opificio mundi of Philo of Alexandria in the 1st century AD and another, earlier lost work by Aristobulus of Alexandria in the 2nd century BC.
The Hexaemeron of Jacob of Serugh is a 6th-century text composed in the genre of Hexaemeral literature. As such, it offers a commentary on the Genesis creation narrative, and it is the first writing of this type to appear in the Syriac language. There was some precedent in the Commentary on Genesis by Ephrem the Syrian, but this was not a Hexaemeron. Likewise, there is no evident influence of a potential Syriac translation of the Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea on Jacob's work. Jacob dedicated a separate homily for each day of the creation week.
It is a common misconception that the Big Bang was the origin of the universe. In reality, the Big Bang scenario is completely silent about how the universe came into existence in the first place. In fact, the closer we look to time "zero," the less certain we are about what actually happened, because our current description of physical laws do not yet apply to such extremes of nature. The Big Bang scenario simply assumes that space, time, and energy already existed. But it tells us nothing about where they came from - or why the universe was born hot and dense to begin with.
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