Creatio Ex Nihilo. The Doctrine of "Creation out of Nothing" in Early Christian Thought

1995 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
J. C. M. van Winden ◽  
Gerhard May ◽  
A. S. Worral
Keyword(s):  
Early Christian ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
Christian Thought

‘Creatio Ex Nihilo’: A Context for the Emergence of the Christian Doctrine of Creation

1991 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Young
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation

Confrontation with our culture has recently been put on the agenda by Lesslie Newbigin, in Beyond 1984 and Foolishness to the Greeks. Broadly speaking his position theology has sold out to Western culture, and the opposing perceptions of the Gospel need to be reclaimed and affirmed against prevailing assumptions.

God, Creation, and Providence in Early Modern Lutheranism

2014 ◽  
pp. 297-310
Author(s):  
Robert Kolb
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation

Seventeenth-century Lutheran theologians, preachers, and devotional writers reproduced the traditional Trinitarian theology which Luther and Melanchthon had espoused, reflecting though not emphasizing elements of Luther’s distinction of God Hidden and God Revealed. Their creative treatment of the doctrine of creation accentuated the creatio ex nihilo and the nature of God’s Word as creative, applying this insight to the recreation of sinners through the forgiveness of sins. They affirmed the fundamental goodness of creation and extended the doctrine of creation into a strong emphasis on God’s creatio continua, his providing care in the midst of tribulations that serve to call believers to repentance. Although the Lutheran dogmaticians tried to avoid detailed theodical argument they did attempt explanations that defended God from the charge that he causes evil.

Creatio ex nihiloin Palestinian Judaism and Early Christianity

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Bockmuehl
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
Roman Antiquity ◽  
Hellenistic Philosophy ◽  
Creation Of Matter

AbstractRecent decades have witnessed a near-consensus of critical opinion (1) that the idea of God's creation of matter ‘out of nothing’ is not affirmed in scripture, but instead (2) originated in a second-century Christian reaction against Gnosticism's convictions about matter as evil and creation as the work of an inferior Demiurge. (3) Judaism's interest, by contrast, was generally deemed late and philosophically derivative or epiphenomenal upon Christian ideas. This essay re-examines all three convictions with particular reference to the biblical creation accounts in Palestinian Jewish reception. After highlighting certain interpretative features in the ancient versions of Genesis 1, this study explores the reception of such ideas in texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls and early rabbinic literature. It is clear that the typically cited proof texts from biblical or deutero-canonical books indeed do not yield clear confirmation of the doctrine they have sometimes been said to prove. Genesis was understood even in antiquity to be somewhat ambiguous on this point, and merely to say that creation gave shape to formlessness need not entail anycreatio ex nihilo. This much seems uncontroversial. Nevertheless, closer examination also shows that the Scrolls and the rabbis do consistently affirm Israel's God as the creator ofallthings, explicitly including matter itself. Graeco-Roman antiquity axiomatically accepted that ‘nothing comes from nothing’, which also meant the pre-existence of matter. To be sure, the conceptual terminology of ‘nothingness’ came relatively late to Christians, and even later to Jews. Yet the substantive concern for God's free creation of the world without recourse to pre-existing matter is repeatedly affirmed in pre-Christian Jewish texts, and constitutes perhaps the single most important building block for the emergence of an explicit doctrine of ‘creation out of nothing’. In its Jewish and Christian origins, therefore, the idea ofcreatio ex nihiloaffirms creation's comprehensive contingency on the Creator's sovereignty and freedom. This in fact is a point which has been rightly and repeatedly accented in both historic and modern Christian theology on this subject (e.g. by K. Barth and E. Brunner, J. Moltmann and C. Gunton). Well before its explicit articulation in dialogue with Hellenistic philosophy, the doctrine of God's creation of all matter was rooted in biblical texts and their Jewish interpretation, which in turn came to be refined and enriched through Christian–Jewish dialogue and controversy.

scholarly journals Stworzenie z niczego, czyli słów kilka o monografii Jacka Zielińskiego „Koncepcja creatio ex nihilo w myśli Apologetów greckich II wieku”

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-127
Author(s):  
Wojciech Szczerba
Keyword(s):  
Canonical Form ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Christian Thought

The monograph of Jacek Zieliński, The Concept of Creatio ex Nihilo in the Thought of the Greek Apologists of the 2nd century, published by Wroclaw’s Atut in 2013, discusses an important problem of the theory of creation from nothing. It also asks an important question, how far the elements of the concept, articulated in its final form only by Augustine of Hippo can be found in the writings of the Christian apologists of the 2nd century. It is an important question, especially that the Bible in its canonical form, the early extra-biblical Jewish literature or – even more – Greek tradition does not unambiguously advocate the concept creatio ex nihilo. Hence the question how, when and why the concept was articulated, since it played such an important role in the Christian thought of later centuries. In addition, the book of Jacek Zielinski is important in Polish market, because there are only a few serious publications dealing with the issue. The article gives a description and short analysis of the book, pinpointing its strong sights and showing areas, which could be strengthened in this and — hopefully — following publications on creatio ex nihilo by Jacek Zieliński.

Creation and Religious Pluralism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cheetham
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Other

In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider interreligious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. In the course of the book’s narrative, there will be close consideration given to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of ‘sabbath’, human action, and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of ‘creational politics’ that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes will challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes—because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature—can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.). Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is creatio ex nihilo, part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

scholarly journals Corporealism as an Ontological Position and Its Involvement in the Thought of Tertullian

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 534
Author(s):  
Marián Ambrozy
Keyword(s):  
Clear Distinction ◽  
De Anima ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Stoic Philosophy ◽  
Ontological Position ◽  
Theological Thinking

This paper aims to examine the meaning, role, inspirations, and place of corporealism in Tertullian’s system of thought. The extent to which corporealism is a basic philosophical belief in Tertullian’s work and to what extent it is a particular element of his theological doctrine is questioned. It presents the named ontological position as a rare specificity within the range of early Christian thought, especially in Tertullian’s works De anima and De carne Cristi. This paper makes a clear distinction between corporealism and materialism, as it tries to determine the degree of influence of Stoic philosophy, especially ontology, on Tertullian, as well as the influence of Aristotle in selected areas. In this context, his traducianism is also examined. In the ontological context, the status of the soul and God in Tertullian thought is also presented. In connection with the metaphysical problem of creation, the article also touches on the question of creatio ex nihilo as a problem on which Tertullian had to take a stand. It investigates the role of corporealism in Tertullian’s polemic against Marcion, Apelles, and the Valentinian Gnosis by mapping which elements in the teachings of these representatives and Gnosis, especially (but not exclusively) Valentinian, could provoke Tertullian to controversy. This paper holds the opinion that Tertullian’s corporealism was due to his theological views and controversy with opponents, which were used as philosophical inspiration, especially stoic inspiration, but was used mainly in the service of his theological thinking and strategic needs for argumentation.

The Missing Rhetorical History Between Quintilian and Augustine

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-376
Author(s):  
Mike Duncan
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Classical Rhetoric ◽  
Rhetorical History ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Rhetorical Force ◽  
Apostolic Church

Current histories of rhetoric neglect the early Christian period (ca. 30–430 CE) in several crucial ways–Augustine is overemphasized and made to serve as a summary of Christian thought rather than an endpoint, the texts of church fathers before 300 CE are neglected or lumped together, and the texts of the New Testament are left unexamined. An alternative outline of early Christian rhetoric is offered, explored through the angles of political self-invention, doctrinal ghostwriting, apologetics, and fractured sermonization. Early Christianity was not a monolithic religion that eventually made peace with classical rhetoric, but as a rhetorical force in its own right, and comprised of more factions early on than just the apostolic church.

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