Abstract

In the biblical accounts of creation (Gen. 1:1 -2:4a and Gen. 2:4bff), it is enough for God to will something to be created for this to happen. The second account may refer to God as a potter or builder, but it still differs significantly from Plato’s Timaeus, where the world is generated by the Demiurge (Greek = Craftsman) who has to literally toil at the task of ordering the cosmos; an image which was something of an embarrassment for generations of later Platonists. As the Epicurean of ND I. 19 mockingly states: “What power of mental vision allowed your master Plato to envisage the vast and elaborate architectural process adopted by God in constructing the world? What method of engineering was employed? What iron tools and levers and cranes?” (trans. LCL modified).