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christian-theology-properfeatured in 30 works

Creation Out of Nothing

God made the world not from anything, but from nothing at all

This doctrine holds that God created the universe not by shaping pre-existing matter but out of nothing, by his own free will. Articulated by writers such as Theophilus of Antioch and Irenaeus in his Against Heresies, it was set against Gnostic and Platonic notions of eternally existing matter. It affirms that everything depends entirely on God, who alone is uncreated and the free source of all that exists.

How it traveled

  1. Hebrews
    Rome · 67
    explains
  2. Hortatory Address to the Greeks
    Rome · 165
    explains
  3. The First Apology
    Rome · 165
    explains
  4. A Plea for the Christians
    Alexandria · 190
    explains
  5. The Resurrection of the Dead
    Alexandria · 190
    explains
  6. Against Heresies: Book II
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  7. Against Heresies: Book I
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  8. Against Heresies: Book IV
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  9. Against Heresies: Book V
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  10. Against Heresies: Book III
    Lyons · 202
    explains
  11. Against Hermogenes.
    — · 220
    explains
  12. Of the Manichæans.
    — · 220
    explains
  13. Against the Valentinians.
    — · 220
    explains
  14. On the Resurrection of the Flesh.
    — · 220
    explains
  15. Apology.
    — · 220
    explains
  16. The Octavius of Minucius Felix.
    Rome · 250
    explains
  17. A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity.
    Rome · 258
    explains
  18. A Treatise on the Anger of God Addressed to Donatus
    — · 325
    explains
  19. The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius
    Caesarea · 339
    explains
  20. The Church History of Eusebius
    Caesarea · 339
    explains
  21. The Incarnation of the Word
    Alexandria · 373
    explains
  22. Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.)
    Alexandria · 373
    explains
  23. Against the Heathen. (Contra Gentes.)
    Alexandria · 373
    explains
  24. The Hexæmeron
    Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
    explains
  25. The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril
    Jerusalem · 386
    explains
  26. Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen
    Nazianzus · 390
    explains
  27. On the Making of Man
    Nyssa · 395
    explains
  28. Against Eunomius
    Nyssa · 395
    explains
  29. The Great Catechism
    Nyssa · 395
    explains
  30. Answer to Eunomius' Second Book
    Nyssa · 395
    explains

Key passages(20)

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans — God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things, Spiritual and Corporeal.↗explains

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans · Augustine of Hippo

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Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans — That Creatures are Made of Nothing.↗explains

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans · Augustine of Hippo

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Treatise on The Creation (QQ[44-46]) — Question. 45 - THE MODE OF EMANATION OF THINGS FROM THE FIRST PRINCIPLE (EIGHT ARTICLES) — part 1↗explains

Treatise on The Creation (QQ[44-46]) · Thomas Aquinas

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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin — Book II — In What Sense Created Beings are Out of God.↗explains

A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo

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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin — Book III — The Simile Reformed in Accordance with Truth.↗explains

A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo

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Against Hermogenes., A Presumption that All Things Were Created by God Out of Nothing Afforded by the Ultimate Reduction of All Things to Nothing. Scriptures Proving This Reduction Vindicated from Hermogenes' Charge of Being Merely Figurative.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Against Hermogenes., A Retort of Heresy Answered. That Scripture Should in So Many Words Tell Us that the World Was Made of Nothing is Superfluous.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Against Hermogenes., An Eulogy on the Wisdom and Word of God, by Which God Made All Things of Nothing.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Against Hermogenes., Conclusion.  Contrast Between the Statements of Hermogenes and the Testimony of Holy Scripture Respecting the Creation.  Creation Out of Nothing, Not Out of Matter.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Against Hermogenes., Meaning of the Phrase--In the Beginning. Tertullian Connects It with the Wisdom of God, and Elicits from It the Truth that the Creation Was Not Out of Pre-Existent Matter.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Against Hermogenes., The Truth, that God Made All Things from Nothing, Rescued from the Opponent's Flounderings.↗explains

Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion

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Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans — Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing.↗explains

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans · Augustine of Hippo

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Fragments., Extracts from the Work on Things Created.↗explains

Fragments. · Methodius

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Monologium — Chapter VII.↗explains

Monologium · Anselm of Canterbury

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Monologium — Chapter VIII.↗explains

Monologium · Anselm of Canterbury

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Proslogium — Chapter V↗explains

Proslogium · Anselm of Canterbury

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The Confessions — He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture. — Out of Nothing God Made Heaven and Earth.↗explains

The Confessions · Augustine of Hippo

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The Confessions — He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture. — The Words, ‘In the Beginning,’ And, ‘The Heaven and the Earth,’ Are Differently Understood.↗explains

The Confessions · Augustine of Hippo

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The Confessions — Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. — All Creatures Subsist from the Plenitude of Divine Goodness.↗explains

The Confessions · Augustine of Hippo

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The Hexæmeron — “The Earth was Invisible and Unfinished.” — part 1↗explains

The Hexæmeron · Basil of Caesarea

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