antemundane (adj)

antemundane (n) [ăn΄ tē mŭn dān΄]

existing or occurring before the creation of the world

The prefix ante– < Latin ante — before, in front of, against < Indo-European root ant– — front, forehead
+ mundane — (1) of, pertaining to, or typical of this world; earthly; (2) characteristic of, relating to, or concerned with the commonplace; ordinary; banal; unimaginative < Middle English mondeine < Old French mondain < Latin mundānus < Latin mundus — world

 
 
“Maimonides begins his discussion of Creation in the Guide to the Perplexed by reviewing three possibilities: the Mosaic, Platonic and Aristotelian. The Mosaic position, as learned from Scriptures, holds that God created the world and everything out of nothing, or ex nihilo. Platonic Creation, on the other hand, believes in the existence of an antemundane matter out of which God created everything. Thus, there was always present some eternal matter that coexisted with God, and at some point, God Created, i.e. formed it into Heaven, Earth and all that is contained within. Aristotle, however, believes the world is eternal. Through an initial act, God caused the world to be brought to its present state, but not from a state of nonexistence, and not by a series of ‘miraculous’ interventions but ‘of necessity,’ by the utterly deterministic unfolding of an inexorably inevitable series of ‘mechanical’ causes, flowing one from the other all the way back to the First Cause, which is God’s ‘Act.’ According to Aristotle, this world follows the rules of nature, from which it cannot deviate. Consequently, since God cannot change the ‘of necessity’ unfolding of what must be, he cannot intervene in nature and miracles are not possible. Maimonides lumps the Platonic and Aristotelian positions together, since they both believe in the eternity of matter, and adamantly rejects them both. He claims one is obligated to believe in Creation ex nihilo because to think otherwise would strip God of the power to do miracles.”

– Naomi R. Frankel, “Maimonidean Controversy and the Story of Creation”

~ by nyx on March 16, 2008.