Timeline for What influence did Greco-Roman philosophy have on the doctrine of "creatio ex nihilo"?
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| Oct 3, 2022 at 16:05 | comment | added | Hopppin Jane | The comment on the Greek of 2 Macc 7:28 seems fallacious in the extreme. Would SolaGratia care to say what his view would be if "from nothing" was not an editorialization??? I think not ;) Whatever the case, this kind of speculation throws many other things out of kilter Hebrews 11:3 — The New International Version (NIV) 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. | |
| Dec 18, 2017 at 6:04 | vote | accept | James Shewey | ||
| Sep 11, 2017 at 22:36 | comment | added | Sola Gratia | The Greek says "οὐκ ἐξ ὄντων" (not, from, anything-[pre-]existing). Man also was created from that same 'ex nihilo' (Vulg) creation. They weren't ignorant that man was created from the earth. Besides, man is a composite of body and soul. It's not strictly true to say 'man' is created from earth, inasmuch as his body only is, which alone is not a 'man.' | |
| Sep 11, 2017 at 21:25 | comment | added | James Shewey | 2 Maccabees was written in greek, so there is no hebrew original. The reason to believe so is that I am actually not able to find the greek word for "nothing" in the original Greek manuscript and if it is "just as mankind" was created, mankind was created from the dust of the earth according to Gen 2:7, so "created from nothing" doesn't even make sense. I believe that the Greek simply says "God made these things in the same way humankind was made", but I'm not an expert in translating Greek - hence the question. | |
| Sep 11, 2017 at 20:55 | comment | added | Sola Gratia | Is there a reason to believe so? Or do we have some Hebrew original with a different reading? | |
| Sep 11, 2017 at 20:24 | comment | added | James Shewey | @SolaGratia - This seems like a great question to ask the authors of the IEP from which you quote. I believe analysis of the Greek of 2 Maccabees 7:28 will indicate that "from nothing" is an editorialization by the translator not present in the original language. Contrast the GNT/CEB with the RSV for example. I have started a question here to that end. | |
| Sep 11, 2017 at 19:38 | comment | added | Sola Gratia | "Before Philo there was no explicit theory of creation ex nihilo ever postulated in Jewish or Greek traditions" What about 2 Maccabees, written around 150BC (7:28)? | |
| Sep 11, 2017 at 19:23 | history | edited | James Shewey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 27, 2017 at 7:15 | history | bounty ended | Cannabijoy | ||
| Aug 24, 2017 at 15:33 | comment | added | James Shewey | I'm not well enough versed in Greek and Hebrew to draw any conclusions on the definite article. I'd be interested to see 1) how other philosophers phrase this (with or without the definite article) and how the Septuagint translates that. Your second point is great though - I hadn't considered it. I would think it was a both/and: Here is what you got right, and here is what you got wrong. | |
| Aug 24, 2017 at 6:24 | comment | added | Cannabijoy | This is great stuff. I hope to read through all the links you provided. I'm wondering if you find any significance that John begins his gospel with Ἐν ἀρχῇ without the definite article, just like בראשית in Genesis. Also, have you considered that John wrote in response to Philo, rather than to support him? | |
| Aug 24, 2017 at 6:11 | history | edited | James Shewey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 24, 2017 at 6:00 | history | edited | James Shewey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 24, 2017 at 5:44 | history | answered | James Shewey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |