creation

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noun

1. The act of founding or establishing: constitution, establishment, foundation, institution, organization, origination, start-up. See start/end.
2. The totality of all existing things: cosmos, macrocosm, nature, universe, world. See matter, part/whole.
3. Any fictitious idea accepted as part of an ideology by an uncritical group; a received idea: fantasy, fiction, figment, invention, myth. See belief/unbelief, real/imaginary.

n

Definition: all living things
Antonyms: death

n

Definition: concoction, development
Antonyms: annihilation, destruction, ruin

The origin of the universe described in the biblical narrative in the first two chapters of Genesis, which developed conceptually as one of the ideological pillars of Judaism through rabbinic interpretation, mysticism, and philosophy.

The Bible The Hebrew Scriptures, apparently influenced by Mesopotamian epic prototypes, opens with two creation stories. In the first, God creates the universe in six days and rests on the seventh day (Gen. 1:1-2:4). The six days of creation are divided equally; three days in which light, day, night, sky, dry land, seas, and vegetation were created, and three days in which the celestial bodies and all the living creatures of the sea, sky, and land were created. "And God saw that it was good; and there was evening and there was morning ..." is repeated at the conclusion of nearly every day's activity. The ultimate act of creation, the birth of humankind on the sixth day, is announced by an unidentified angelic court: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). God then created a man and a woman, blessed them and told them, "Be fertile and multiply, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth" (1:28). Having completed the creation, God ceased from work on the seventh day, which He blessed and declared holy (2:2-3).

In the second biblical account of creation (Gen. 2:4-24), the barren ground is watered by an underground flow, a man is formed from the earth and brought to life by a Divine breath, a woman is created from the man's rib, and the two are placed in the Garden of Eden "to till it and tend it" (Gen. 2:15). The two epic traditions differ in numerous ways: (1) the use of the names of God, (2) the order of plants, animals, and humankind in the creation narrative, (3) the way that man and woman are formed, and (4) the purpose of their existence (cf. 1:26 ,27 ,28 with 2:7, 15, 22) (see also Evolution).

Near Eastern parallels The biblical account contains parallels with some of the themes and terminology of Ancient Near Eastern prototypes. In Egyptian cosmogony, for example, the first man was created in the image of his creator god; the Mesopotamian king is referred to as the "image or "likeness" of his deity; and in the Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish, separating a watery abyss from the firmament produces heaven and earth, with the same order of creation as in Genesis---firmament, land, celestial bodies, man, and Divine rest. References to man being formed out of clay are found in the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, and the great sea monsters of Genesis 1:21 have been seen as demythologized remnants of the primeval war between them (as symbols of chaos) and the godhead of Mesopotamian cosmogonic literature. The comparative distinction of Genesis, however, lies in its rejection of polytheism in favor of a single, omnipotent Creator, and the preeminent role of humankind in ruling the universe, not merely as an afterthought to serve the whim of the gods.

Rabbinic literature In the rabbinic period, and especially during the time of the tannaim, ma'aseh bereshit ("the act of creation") was considered a systematic discipline, and a mystery not to be expounded publicly and not to be the subject of metaphysical speculation (Ḥag. 2:1). "Why does the story of creation begin with the letter bet [in be-réshit]?" the rabbis asked. "Just as the letter bet is closed on all sides and only open in the front, so you are not permitted to inquire into what is before or what is behind, but only from the actual time of creation" (TJ Ḥag. 77c). In a discussion, R. Akiva defended the position that creation was out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) and refuted gnostic and dualist heresies claiming the eternal preexistence of physical matter and that angels, not God alone, created the world (Gen. R. 1:14). The Midrash teaches that "before the world was created, the Holy One, Blessed be He, with His name alone existed" (Pirké de-Rabbi Eliezer 10). R. Abbahu and others believed in successive creations and that this world was one of many that God created (Gen. R. 3:7, 9 and 9:2).

The sages offered differing opinions in response to the textual problem arising from the statement that light was the first act of creation while the sun appeared only on the fourth day. One theory posited that the celestial bodies were created on the first day, but displayed only on the fourth. Others maintained that the light of the first day was stored away for the righteous in anticipation of the evil generations of the Flood and the Tower of Babel (Ḥag. 12a). Although God completed the work of creating the physical universe, with regard to "the work of the righteous and the wicked," God did not rest (Gen. R. 11), and depends upon humankind to complete the task as "partner with God in the work of creation" (Shab. 10). The rabbis included this belief in the ongoing nature of God's creative act in the daily morning liturgy "...Who in His goodness renews each day continuously the act of creation" (see also Isa. 43:19). In the later amoraic period, a mythological influence is evident from the Hellenistic world, when the prohibitions against metaphysical speculation were relaxed and cosmological discussion was extended (BB 74b).

Kabbalah The Kabbalah, or Jewish mystical tradition, insists that there can be no knowledge of God without contemplating God's relationship to creation. Since God is the hidden, unknowable En-Sof ("Infinite"), creation represents the problem of God's transition from concealment to manifestation (or the first Divine "emanation") and therefore can only be described approximately or symbolically.

God's free decision to emerge into the world through creation remains a constant and impenetrable mystery. Was God's first creative step an outward venture at all, or rather an inward withdrawal of En-Sof into the depths of itself? Did the Divine will to create always coexist with the En-Sof or did it originate at the moment of its emanation? Or does the entire creative process depend on an intellectual act, "pure thought," and not on a volitional one? Does God's first step toward manifestation defy definition in qualitative terms and can it therefore only be described as Nothingness (ayin)? Is the power of the En-Sof identical with the ten Sefirot, or stages of God's emanations, and if not, what is the difference between them?" Isaac Luria's kabbalistic cosmology involves "the breaking of the vessels," whereby the sparks of the primeval light of creation spilled over onto the lower Sefirot and have to be restored to their proper places through a messianic healing of the cosmic order (Tikkun).

The teachings and terminology of kabbalistic cosmology are largely borrowed from medieval Neoplatonic and Aristotelian philosophy. The Kabbalah's unique contribution was the new religious impulse it introduced to integrate this philosophy into traditional Jewish sources. (See MYSTICISM.)

Philosophy As the first Jewish representative of theological philosophy, Philo (C. 25 Bce-40 Ce) Reconciled the Greek Doctrine of Creation, Which Depends Upon Eternal Preexistent Matter, with the Scriptural Account of creatio Ex Nihilo by Introducing a Mediating logos as the agency that links a purely spiritual God with the created material world. In the tenth century, the same challenge was addressed by Saadiah Gaon, who maintained that the world was created in time, out of nothing, and completely separate from its Creator. The Neoplatonists of the next century, especially Isaac Israeli and Solomon Ibn Gabirol, postulated a timeless "emanation" of primary matter from God's free creative power. None of the medieval Jewish philosophers was prepared to accept the Aristotelian teaching that matter is eternal. Maimonides claimed that although the issue of creatio ex nihilo is not crucial for religious faith, it is the accepted Jewish position, since Plato's theory of creation had not been successfully demonstrated. Acccording to his Hilkhot Yesodé ha-Torah, the earth is surrounded by concentric, incorporeal, and "intelligent" spheres and occupies a position at the center of the universe. At the outset of his code he stated that the First Being brought all things into being and that all things only enjoy existence by virtue of His True Being (Yad, Yesodé ha-Torah, 1:1-3). Levi Ben Gershom and Ḥasdai Crescas disagreed with Maimonides, the former believing that the doctrine of eternal formless matter is indeed taught by the Torah (cf. Ps. 104; Job 38) and the latter exhibiting ambivalence with regard to the doctrines of the eternity of the universe and its temporal beginning.

Most modern Jewish thinkers reject the literal and fundamentalist approach to the biblical cosmological account, although the 19th century German thinker Solomon Steinheim preferred the God of revelation to the God of reason because the latter cannot be a creator, only an organizer. For Franz , belief in creation and revelation were mutually dependent. The experience of Divine love is rooted in the fact that God, whose love is made known to humanity, is also the Creator on whom man's existence depends. Martin BUBER envisioned creation as the "communication between Creator and creature," and humankind as God's partner, completing the creative act and thus initiating redemption. Creation in Jewish religious thought has been defended as the process of regenerating life by overcoming its internal contradictions and composite nature and thereby rediscovering its divinely ordained unity.

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A creation myth is a cosmogony, a story that describes the origins of the universe. Creation myths concern themselves with the creation of the world and of human beings. All cultures have creation myths. A creation myth is a good reflection of a given culture's sense of itself—not only its origins but also its priorities and its meaning. Creation myths are etiological in that they “explain” things during the prescientific age—how the world was formed and where the people came from. Although each creation myth reflects an individual culture, there are basic patterns that emerge when we compare creation myths from around the world, and Asian creation myths are no exception to this rule. Creation myths, for example, often have flood myths attached to them. There is nearly always a creator or creatrix and a first man and woman. Creation stories describe in various ways the essential struggle between chaos and form. In creation myths no-thing becomes some-thing; chaos becomes cosmos ordered by Logos—the ordering force of the universe. Often creation emerges from a cosmic egg, sometimes from primal maternal waters in which an earthdiver finds the building material for the world creation. All of these themes and others are found in Asian creation myths (see Earth Diver Creation, Chinese Cosmogony, Indian Cosmogony, Japanese Cosmogony).

God's creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis, commencing in this way: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light.” According to this account, the Creation took six days, with God creating Adam and Eve on the sixth day and resting on the seventh day. Genesis also gives another account of the Creation, in which God makes Adam out of clay, prepares the Garden of Eden for him, and then fashions Eve out of Adam's rib.

IN BRIEF: The act of making something never made before. Also: the whole world and everything in it.

Art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling. — Susanne Langer.

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Quotes:

"If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon Creation, I should have recommended something simpler." - Alfonso X

"I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and he answered, I am not He, but He made me." - St. Augustine

"God's first creature, which was light." - Francis Bacon

"Every man is as heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse." - Miguel De Cervantes

"Either God is in the whole of nature, with no gaps, or He's not there at all." - L. A. Coulson

"when god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began" - E.E. (Edward. E.) Cummings

See more famous quotes about Creation

For a list of words related to creation, see:

• Intuition and Imagination - creation: act of making, imagining, or inventing something new

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See words rhyming with "creation."

Dansk (Danish)
n. - frembringelse, oprettelse, skabelse, skabning, universet, verden, kunstværk, værk, udnævnelsesceremoni, udnævnelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
creatie, schepping, toekenning van titel/ rang

Français (French)
n. - création

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schöpfung, Werk, Erschaffung, Ernennung, Kreation, Verursachung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δημιουργία, δημιούργημα, πλάσμα, (η) Πλάση, (η) Κτίση, πρωτότυπο έργο τέχνης, δημιουργία, απόδοση τίτλου ή αξιώματος, (ενδυμ.) ενδυματολογική δημιουργία, κρεασιόν, (μτφ.) επινόηση, επινόημα

Italiano (Italian)
creazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - criação (f), instituição (f)

Русский (Russian)
созидание, творение

Español (Spanish)
n. - creación

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - skapande, skapelse, verk, produkt, utnämning, kreation

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
创造, 创立, 创作, 世界, 万物, 宇宙

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 創造, 創立, 創作, 世界, 萬物, 宇宙

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 창조, 창작물, 작위 수여

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 創造, 創作, 創設, 創作品, 作品, 神の創造物, 神の天地創造

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ابداع, تكوين, الخليقه, ابتكار, اختراع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בריאה, יצירה, עולם‬

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