COSMOGONY (kaz-mOg'ts-ny), (Gr. Kocuoyoria, from the Greek words cosmos, universe, and Ktknesthai, to be burn, signifies the creation of the universe.
I. Cosmogony of Genesis.
The book of Genesis opens with a cosmogony, i. e., an account of the origin of the universe. It has been alleged that there are two parallel cosinog oims in the opening chapters of the book, the first of i‘hich is given in :4 and the second in ii:4-7. But it is only by a hard stretch of the term that the second of these can be called a cos mogony. At the first glance, as %yell as after ma turer study, it appears to be a brief introduction to the account of the origin of man. it is in no sense a comprehensive narrative of the origin of the world, but a summary statement preparing the way for what follows. It looks upon a certain portion of the earth as the local habitation of the first man and treats of the preparation of this habitation. It contains no special data as to the successive stages in which the world came into being. To treat it as a variant cosmogony would be to detach it front the larger section to which it belongs and to misunderstand its meaning.
If we now examine the cosmogony given in Gen. i, ii t-3, we shall find that it begins with the general statement in verse 1, that ''God created the heaven and the earth"; i. e., the universe; for all things are included in the two terms, heaven and earth. This general statement is then expli cated in a series of seven paragraphs. Each one of these gives the so-called work of one day. The first traces the progress of the earth from a chaotic ("formless and void") mass under the in fluence of the spirit of God to a luminous or illuminated body. The second tells of the separa tion between the firmament and the waters above and the earth with the waters beneath; the third, of the separation between the dry land and the seas and of the appearance of vegetable life; the fourth, of the emergence of the sun, moon, and stars and their use as standards or measurements of time the fifth, of the production of animal life in the waters of the sea and in the air (fishes and birds) ; the sixth, of the creation of animal life on land, culminating in man. The seventh records the hallowing of the seventh day as the day of the rest of God. All but the last of these paragraphs end with the formula : "And there was evening and there was morning, one day." "a second day." etc.
How is this account to be understood? Is it to be taken as a precise history of the way in which the world came into being, or is it a poetical or even allegorical portraiture of certain mord and religious principles? Light has been thrown on the subject by recent research, both in the sphere of archeology and in that of natural science. The cosmogony of Genesis bears certain
resemblances to the cosmogonies of the ancients.
2. Cosmogony of the .Ancients.
(1) Greeks and Romans. Of the cosmog onj-r r•f the most familiar is that which passed current among the Greeks and Romans. This was gathered into form early, by the poet Ilesiod. In the beginning, it ran, the world was a great, shapeless mass called Chaos. Out of Chaos sprang first the spirit of love—Eros —and the broadchested earth—Gaea; then (lark ness—Erebos—and night—Nyx; from the union of the two latter arose the clear sky—Acthcr—and the day—Honer°. The earth, by virtue of the power by which it was produced, brought forth the firmament—Uranos—the mountains and the sea—Pontos. Thereupon, Eros moved the beings thus far produced to come together in pairs. Uranos and Gaea first being Joined together, peopled the earth with Titans, Giants and Cy clops. Out of these beginnings grew in the course of time the gods of Olympus, the heroes, and the human race in successive ages.
(2) Egyptian. According to the Egyptian cos mogony, the universe is a gradually developing divinity. It is not, however, a unit, but a (ma ternity. Its four members are: Knoh, Spirit; Arcith, matter ; Sevech, time; and Paseht, space. These are all independent and underived. The last two, time and space, are passive; the first two combine to produce the visible world. Neith is conceived of as in the form of a great ball—the primitive or cosmic egg—around which Kneph broods as a subtle substance, preparing it for its transformation. The first product of this brood ing of the Spirit over matter is Ptah, or the fire and light element. in the next stage of develop ment, two vast material divinities arise; i. e., the firmament Pe and the earth, "-Nuke. Above the vault of heaven there remain the subtle dark fluid substances of the primitive stage; these are the waters above the heavens. The masses below the vault arc then shaped into the sun, moon and stars. With the creation of the sun, the period of universal light—Ptah--comes to an end. How long this period was, it is impossible to tell, as there was no sun to measure it. After the origin of the sun and moon, the world was gradually brought to its present form, the earth occupying the center.