spin

In one of those biblical passages that DavidfromTexas is not able to understand, ie Isa 45:18, says that god did not create THW:

H)LHYM YCR H)RC
God formed the earth

W($H HW) KWNNH
He made it and established it

L)-THW BR)H
He didn't create chaos

yet the world was THW WBHW in Gen 1:2, chaos and empty (unpopulated). The creation in Genesis is a movement from chaos to order, ie there was something there to start with: it was not creatio ex nihilo.

However, I think some of the early church fathers argued on the assumption of creatio ex nihilo. Perhaps more speculative Jewish thought did as well. These were aftertheir contact with Platonic ideas about the demiurge.


spin

cajela

Thanks spin. This thread is turning out to be surprisingly interesting, after I zoned out of the actual debate...