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-	{{Template}}	+	#REDIRECT [[Enûma Eliš]]
-	[[Eric Voegelin]] sees it instead as ''creatio [[ex nihilo]]'', much as in the [[Book of Genesis]]. The term ''[[tohu wa-bohu]]'' of Genesis 1:2 has been shown to refer to a state of non-being prior to creation rather than to a state of matter. The [[Septuagint]] makes no use of ''χάος'' in the context of creation, instead using the term for ''גיא'', "chasm, cleft", in [[Book of Micah|Micha]] 1:6 and [[Book of Zechariah|Zacharia]] 14:4.	+
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-	Nevertheless, the term ''[[chaos]]'' has been adopted in [[religious studies]] as referring to the primordial state before creation, strictly combining two separate notions of primordial waters or a primordial darkness from which a new order emerges and a primordial state as a merging of opposites, such as heaven and earth, which must be separated by a creator deity in an act of cosmogony. In both cases, chaos referring to a notion of a primordial state contains the cosmos ''in potentia'' but needs to be formed by a [[demiurge]] before the world can begin its existence.	+
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-	This model of a primordial state of matter has been opposed by the [[Church Fathers]] from the 2nd century, who posited a creation ''[[ex nihilo]]'' by an omnipotent [[God]].	+
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-	In modern [[biblical studies]], the term ''chaos'' is commonly used in the context of the [[Torah]] and their cognate narratives in Ancient Near Eastern mythology more generally. Parallels between the Hebrew Genesis and the Babylonian [[Enuma Elish]] were established by H. Gunkel in 1910. Besides Genesis, other books of the Old Testament, especially a number of [[Psalms]], some passages in [[Isaiah]] and [[Jeremiah]] and the [[Book of Job]] are relevant.	+
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-	Use of ''chaos'' in the derived sense of "complete disorder or confusion" first appears in Elizabethan [[Early Modern English]], originally implying satirical exaggeration.	+
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-	==Greco-Roman tradition==	+
-	For [[Hesiod]] and the early Greek Olympian myth (8th century BC), Chaos was the first of the [[Greek primordial deities|primordial deities]], followed by Earth ([[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]), [[Tartarus]] and [[Eros]] (Love). From Chaos came [[Erebus]] and [[Nyx (mythology)|Nyx]].	+
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-	Passages in Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]'' suggest that Chaos was located below Earth but above Tartarus. Primal Chaos was sometimes said to be the true foundation of reality, particularly by philosophers such as [[Heraclitus]].	+
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-	[[Ovid]] (1st century BC), in his ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', described Chaos as "a rude and undeveloped mass, that nothing made except a ponderous weight; and all discordant elements confused, were there congested in a shapeless heap."	+
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-	''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' 1.5–9	+
-	: Ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia caelum	+
-	: unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe,	+
-	: quem dixere chaos: rudis indigestaque moles	+
-	: nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem	+
-	: non bene iunctarum discordia semina rerum.	+
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-	"Before the ocean and the earth appeared—	+
-	before the skies had overspread them all—	+
-	the face of Nature in a vast expanse	+
-	was naught but Chaos uniformly waste.	+
-	It was a rude and undeveloped mass,	+
-	that nothing made except a ponderous weight;	+
-	and all discordant elements confused,	+
-	were there congested in a shapeless heap." (trans. B. Moore)	+
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-	Fifth-century [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] cosmogony had a "Womb of Darkness" in which the Wind lay a ''[[World egg|Cosmic Egg]]'' whence [[Eros]] was hatched, who set the universe [[primum movens|in motion]].	+
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-	==Alchemy==	+
-	The Greco-Roman tradition of ''Prima Materia'', notably including 5th and 6th centuries	+
-	[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] cosmogony was merged with biblical notions (''[[Tehom]]'') in [[Christian belief]] and inherited by [[alchemy]] and [[Renaissance magic]].	+
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-	The [[Orphic egg|cosmic egg]] of Orphism was taken as the raw material for the alchemical [[magnum opus (alchemy)|magnum opus]] in early Greek alchemy. The first stage of the process of producing the ''[[Lapis Philosophorum]]'', i.e., [[nigredo]], was identified with chaos. Because of association with the [[Genesis creation myth|creation in Genesis]], where "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2), Chaos was further identified with the [[Water (element)|element Water]].	+
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-	===Alchemy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance===	+
-	[[Raimundus Lullus|Blessed Raimundus Lullus]] (1232–1315) wrote a ''Liber Chaos'', in which he identifies Chaos as the primal form or matter created by God.	+
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-	Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]] (1493–1541) uses ''chaos'' synonymously with ''[[Classical element|element]]'' (because the primeval chaos is imagined as a formless congestion of all elements). Paracelsus thus identifies [[Earth (element)|Earth]] as "the chaos of the ''gnomi''", i.e., the element of the [[gnome]]s, through which these spirits move unobstructed as fish do through water, or birds through air.	+
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-	An alchemical treatise by [[Heinrich Khunrath]], printed in Frankfurt in 1708, was entitled ''Chaos''.	+
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-	The 1708 introduction to the treatise states that the treatise was written in 1597 in Magdeburg, in the author's 23rd year of practicing alchemy. The treatise purports to quote [[Paracelsus]] on the point that "The light of the soul, by the will of the Triune God, made all earthly things appear from the primal Chaos."	+
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-	[[Martin Ruland the Younger|Martin Ruland]], in his 1612 ''Lexicon Alchemiae'', states, "A crude mixture of matter or another name for ''Materia Prima'' is ''Chaos'', as it is in the Beginning."	+
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-	The term ''[[gas]]'' in [[chemistry]] was coined by Dutch chemist [[J. B. Van Helmont]] in the 17th century, directly based on the Paracelsian notion of chaos. The ''g'' in ''gas'' is due to the Dutch pronunciation of this letter as a spirant, also employed to pronounce Greek [[χ]].	+
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-	==See also==	+
-	*[[Amatsu-Mikaboshi]]	+
-	*[[Azathoth]]	+
-	*[[Brahman]]	+
-	*[[Chaos magic]]	+
-	*[[Cythraul]]	+
-	*''[[Creatio ex nihilo]]''	+
-	*[[Discordianism]]	+
-	*[[Ginnungagap]]	+
-	*[[Greek primordial gods]]	+
-	*[[Hundun]]	+
-	*[[Sabazios]]	+
-	*[[Tiamat]]	+
-	*[[Tohu wa bohu]]	+
-	*[[Ymir]]	+
-	*[[Chaos theory|Chaos as a scientific term]]	+
-	*[[Cornelius Castoriadis#Chaos|Chaos in Cornelius Castoriadis' thought]]	+
-	*[[Alain Badiou#Introduction to Being and Event|Void in Alain Badiou's thought]]	+
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-	==See also==	+
-	*[[Chaoskampf]]	+
-	*[[Cosmogony]]	+
-	*[[Genesis creation narrative]]	+
-	{{GFDL}}	+

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Current revision

1. REDIRECT Enûma Eliš