The Church Fathers hold by and large that God created the world from nothing, by an act of will, at a particular time. This is a radical departure from the Greek paradigm that there is no ex nihilo creation; and furthermore, an apparent violation of the causal principle, widely held in antiquity, that 'like causes like'. ... The debate on divine creation [resulting from this disparity] was lively in late antiquity. Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-c.395) is a particularly interesting player in this d...