Round 12: Tossup 14

Proofs for this process from finitude, composition, accidents, and time are outlined by Saadia Gaon (“ga-OWN”) at the beginning of his Amânât. To explain this process occurring continuously and gradually, Avicenna rendered a Greek term as fayḍ. According to tradition, Ahmad ibn Hanbal still denied Mu’tazil theories of this process (10[1])occurring to the Qur’an while he was being tortured during the Mihna. To explain how this process occurs involuntarily through the First Cause, al-Farabi borrowed the Greek concept of emanation. Theologians of Islam and Christianity both debated whether this process occurred ex nihilo through the unmoved (10[1])mover, (10[1])contradicting the Greek dictum “nothing comes from nothing.” For 10 points, medieval theologians sought to reconcile Aristotle with the account of what process at the start of the Book of Genesis? ■END■

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