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\section{The world as creation}
\begin{description}
	\item[Old Testament] The prophets, writing against the background of the
		exile, wonder if the Babylonian gods were stronger than Yahweh. The answer
		is that Yahweh is the God of all the earth (Is.~44:6--24; Jer.~10:1--16).
		Also Gn.~1:1--2:3 is from this period; it declares God King of all creation
		and dethrones common other gods, like sun and moon. The idea of God as
		\index{God!Creator}Creator King resonates through the OT, e.g. in Ps.~8;
		33; 104; 139 and Job~38--41.

		In this setting, creation is the proper place of the God--world relation.
		Humanity plays a key role, being created in the \index{God!Imago Dei}image
		of God.
		
	\item[New Testament] The NT introduces Christ as mediator of creation
		(1~Cor.~8:6; Col.~1:16): creation has its basis and goal in Him.

		The promise to Abraham of a good and wide land has been universalised to
		the whole earth, and analogously the good news is available to all
		(Rev.~5:9).

		While the OT talks about the promise of land, the NT puts more emphasis on
		\index{Creation!New}\emph{new} creation. In Christian theology, the
		`earthy' OT is sometimes forgotten, but it should not be: the NT
		presupposes the OT's emphasis on a good material creation.
\end{description}

\index{Gnosticism}Gnostics, pure dualists, believed that the material world is
a mis-creation of a lesser divine being, typically called
\index{Demiurge}\emph{Demiurge} and associated with the OT God. Spiritual souls
have fallen into that world and should be freed. To this end, the true,
spiritual God descends into the world (like unto Jesus) to reveal the
\emph{gnosis}, special knowledge, of the origin of these souls. They may then
begin to ascend to the spiritual realm.

\index{Irenaeus}Irenaeus of Lyon counters this position: \index{Creation!Ex
nihilo}creatio ex nihilo was a free act of an omnipotent God, but also had a
good product because that God is benevolent.

While gnosticism was early condemned, its ideas have influenced Christian
theology nevertheless, for example in the idea of a good heaven.

\medskip
Interestingly, it were the implications of Christian criticism on Greek
creation ideas\footnote{Nature is (1) contingent (divine will); (2) good (a
good God); (3) orderly (a wise God); and (4) its flourishing is a cooperative
endeavour of God and humanity (humanity, created in God's image, has
responsibility).} that in the end gave rise to \index{Science}science and the
\index{Evolution}evolution theory. Although at first not enthusiastic, by the
twentieth century much of mainstream Christianity had reconciled itself to the
possibility of evolutionary process as the means by which God created life.

\subsubsection*{Implications of \emph{creatio ex nihilo}}
\begin{itemize}
	\item God is the source of all that there is. The biblical basis of this is
		slim, since Genesis 1 presupposes the primeval watery chaos. We can
		consider Rom.~4:17 and Heb.~11:3 though.
	\item What is eternal, is also divine, and vice versa, thus excluding
		\index{Dualism}dualism.
	\item Creatures are dependent, yet real and good, thus excluding
		\index{Monism}monism (the idea that only one thing possesses reality).
	\item God creates in freedom: He didn't \emph{need} to create the world.
	\item God created with purpose: creation is meaningful.
	\item God is \index{Transcendence}transcendent and \index{Immanence}immanent.
	\item God is not a creature. It is not contingent but necessary, and
		self-sufficient. Since God is not a creature, faith transcends reason.
\end{itemize}