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Creatio ex nihilo

Summary

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 Ex nihilo nihil fit or "nothing comes from nothing", which means that all things were formed ex materia from preexisting things; an idea by the Greek philosopher Parmenides (c. 540 – c. 480 BC) about the nature of all things, and later more formally stated by Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 – c. 55 BC).

Tree of Life by Eli Content at the Joods Historisch Museum. The Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim (עץ החיים) in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to HaShem and the manner in which He created the world ex nihilo (out of nothing).

Understanding of concept through contrast edit

Ex nihilo nihil fit: uncreated matter edit

Ex nihilo nihil fit means that nothing comes from nothing.[2] In ancient creation myths, 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]

To these can be added the account of the Book of Genesis, which opens with God creating the heavens and the earth, separating and restraining the waters. To further clarify the meaning of the Genesis creation account, the Hebrew sentence which opens Genesis, Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz, can be interpreted in at least three ways:

  1. As a statement that the cosmos had an absolute beginning (In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth).
  2. As a statement describing the condition of the world when God began creating (When in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was untamed and shapeless).
  3. As background information (When in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth being untamed and shapeless, God said, Let there be light!).[9]

Though option 1 has been the historic and predominant view,[10] it has been recently suggested that (since the Middle Ages) 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: the creation of matter edit

Creatio ex nihilo, in contrast to ex nihilo nihil fit, is the idea that matter is not eternal but was created by God at the initial cosmic moment.[13][14] In the third century a new cosmogony arose, articulated by Plotinus, that the world was an emanation from "the One" (God) and therefore in some way "a part" of God. This view of creation was unacceptable to Christian church fathers of the time, as well as to Arabic and Hebrew philosophers, and they forcefully argued for the otherness of God and his creation and that God created all things from nothing by the Word of God.[15] The first known written articulation of the notion of creation ex nihilo is found in a late 2nd century letter written by Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, a pagan friend.

In the letter Theophilus writes, (II, 4) "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" [16] This is almost a verbatim quote of St. Paul as rendered in the Douay–Rheims Bible, (Romans 4:17) "...before God, whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead; and calleth those things that are not [Gr: μὴ ὄντα; L: non sunt], as those that are".[17]

By the beginning of the 3rd century the tension was resolved and creation ex nihilo had become a fundamental tenet of Christian theology.[18] Theophilus of Antioch is the first post New Testament author to unambiguously argue for an ontological ex nihilo creation from nothing, contrasting it to the views of Plato and Lucretius who asserted clearly that matter was preexistent.[19]

In modern times some Christian theologians argue that although the Bible does not explicitly mention creation ex nihilo, it gains validity from having been held by so many for so long; and others find support in modern cosmological theories surrounding the Big Bang.[20] 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.[20]

In Christian metaphysics, the cosmological argument states in summary:[21]

  1. Everything that exists must have a cause.
  2. The universe exists.
  3. Therefore, the universe must have a cause.

The Kalam cosmological argument is a modern formulation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God:[22]

  1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
  2. The universe began to exist.
  3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.
  4. If the universe has a cause, then a changeless and eternal creator possessing free will might exist and chose to cause the creation of the universe.

In theology edit

In Jewish philosophy edit

Theologians and philosophers of religion point out that Creatio ex nihilo is stated in Jewish literature from the first century BC or earlier depending on the dating of 2 Maccabees:[23][24]

2 Maccabees 7:28:[25]

I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed.

Others have argued that the belief may not be inherent in Maccabees.[26]

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.[27] In other places it has been argued that he postulates pre-existent matter alongside God.[28] 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.[29]

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.[30] 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.[31]

Hasidism and Kabbalah edit

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.[32]

Mainstream Christianity edit

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.[33] That belief developed in the second century of the Christian era.[34]

Mormonism edit

Mormons do not believe, as do traditional Christians, that God created the universe ex nihilo (from nothing).[35] Rather, to Mormons, the act of creation is to organize or reorganize pre-existing matter or intelligence.[36]

Islam edit

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.[37][38] 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.[39]

Hindu opinion edit

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".[40]

Stoicism edit

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.[41]

Modern science edit

The Big Bang theory, by 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.[42][43]

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ Bunnin & Yu 2008, p. 149,"The doctrine of creation ex nihlo maintains that matter is not eternal and that no matter existed prior to the divine creative act at the initial moment of the cosmic process."
  2. ^ Pruss 2007, p. 291.
  3. ^ Berlin 2011, p. 188-189.
  4. ^ Andrews 2000, p. 36,48.
  5. ^ Wasilewska 2000, p. 45,49,54.
  6. ^ Wasilewska 2000, p. 49-51,56.
  7. ^ Wasilewska 2000, p. 58-59.
  8. ^ Gregory 2008, p. 21.
  9. ^ Bandstra 1999, pp. 38–39.
  10. ^ "The Case for Creation from Nothing". Catholic Answers. September 3, 2020.
  11. ^ Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 30.
  12. ^ Walton 2006, p. 183.
  13. ^ Bunnin & Yu 2008, p. 149.
  14. ^ McFarland, Ian A. (2022). "Creation". St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Archived from the original on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  15. ^ Harry Austryn Wolfson, “The Meaning of Ex Nihilo in the Church Fathers, Arabic and Hebrew Philosophy, and St. Thomas” Archived 2023-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "To Autolycus, Book II". www.newadvent.org.
  17. ^ "Romans 4:17". www.drbo.org.
  18. ^ May 2004, p. 179.
  19. ^ Craig D. Allert (24 July 2018). Early Christian Readings of Genesis One: Patristic Exegesis and Literal Interpretation. InterVarsity Press. pp. 213–. ISBN 978-0-8308-8783-5. Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  20. ^ a b Oord 2014, p. 3-4.
  21. ^ Pecorino, Philip A. "The Cosmological Argument". Introduction To Philosophy. Queensborough Community College, CUNY. Archived from the original on 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  22. ^ Craig 2000, p. 105.
  23. ^ K. A. Mathews (1996). Genesis 1-11:26. B&H Publishing Group. pp. 141–. ISBN 978-0-8054-0101-1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  24. ^ Paul Copan; William Lane Craig (June 2004). Creation Out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration. Baker Academic. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-0-8010-2733-8. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  25. ^ James L. Kugel; James L Kugel (30 June 2009). Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era. Harvard University Press. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-0-674-03976-6. Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  26. ^ Wolters 1994, p. 109-110.
  27. ^ David B. Burrell; Carlo Cogliati; Janet M. Soskice; William R. Stoeger (2 September 2010). Creation and the God of Abraham. Cambridge University Press. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-1-139-49078-8. Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  28. ^ May 2004, p. 10.
  29. ^ Institute for Christian Studies (1994). Hellenization Revisited: Shaping a Christian Response Within the Greco-Roman World. University Press of America. pp. 115–. ISBN 978-0-8191-9544-9. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  30. ^ Satlow 2006, p. 201-203.
  31. ^ Karesh & Hurvitz 2005, p. 103-104.
  32. ^ Joseph Dan (1987). Argumentum e Silentio. W. de Gruyter. pp. 359–362. ISBN 978-0-89925-314-5. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  33. ^ Samples, K.R. (2012). 7 Truths That Changed the World (Reasons to Believe): Discovering Christianity's Most Dangerous Ideas. Baker Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-4412-3850-4.
  34. ^ Hubler, James N. (1995). Creatio ex Nihilo: Matter, Creation, and the Body in Classical and Christian Philosophy Through Aquinas (PDF) (PhD thesis). Scholarly Commons, University of Pennsylvania.
  35. ^ Bushman (2008, p. 71)
  36. ^ Grant, David (1992). "Matter". Encyclopedia of Mormonism.
  37. ^ Friemuth 2013, p. 128.
  38. ^ Husam Muhi Eldin al- Alousi The Problem of Creation in Islamic Thought, Qur'an, Hadith, Commentaries, and KalamNational Printing and Publishing, Bagdad, 1968 p. 29 and 96
  39. ^ Husam Muhi Eldin al- Alousi The Problem of Creation in Islamic Thought, Qur'an, Hadith, Commentaries, and KalamNational Printing and Publishing, Bagdad, 1968 p. 53
  40. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (2019-01-04). "Chandogya Upanishad, Verse 6.2.1 (English and Sanskrit)". www.wisdomlib.org. Archived from the original on 2022-09-06. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  41. ^ Mitchell, S.; Van Nuffelen, P. (2010). One God: Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-139-48814-3.
  42. ^ Van Till 1990, p. 114.
  43. ^ "Brief Answers to Cosmic Questions". Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics for NASA's Education Support Network. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2021-09-10. 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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