creatio ex nihilo
1
9.9
- noun
- /kriˈeɪʃioʊ ɛks ˈnɪhɪloʊ/
- Formal
:
creatio ex nihilo
- The later theological interpretation of creation as creatio ex nihilo is therefore unquestionably an apt paraphrase of what the Bible means by creation.
- the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo
Examples
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The theologians agree that creatio ex nihilo signifies God's capability to create the universe out of nothing.
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Theologians have long talked about the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, the Latin phrase signifying God's creation of the universe "out of nothing."
Blog text (18) -
"Creatio ex nihilo also implies that God transcends the world; the world is neither God nor a part of God's being.
Academic text (1991) -
On the other hand, Levenson contrasts Genesis 1 with "the developed Jewish, Christian, and Muslim doctrine of creatio ex nihilo."
Academic text (2017) -
Athanasius's doctrine of creation is marked by an emphatic insistence on the doctrine of "creation from nothing" (creatio ex nihilo).
Academic text (2005) -
In Christianity, the concept of creatio ex nihilo emphasizes that the world was brought into existence by God without pre-existing materials.
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Many scholars discuss the implications of creatio ex nihilo in understanding the relationship between God and creation.
Surface Forms
Morphology
creatio + ex + nihilo
The phrase is fully compositional: creatio = creation, ex = out of/from, nihilo = nothing, so the meaning 'creation out of nothing' is directly derivable from the constituent parts. Although the items are Latin (and thus unknown to most B1 learners in practice), if a learner knew those constituents the doctrine’s meaning would be transparent and follows a cross-linguistic logical pattern.
Etymology
Creatio ex nihilo is a Latin phrase made of creatio meaning 'creation', ex meaning 'out of', and nihilo meaning 'nothing'. It comes from the religious belief that God made the world when there was nothing before. So, creatio ex nihilo means 'creation out of nothing' and is used to name that belief.