Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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CHAOS

That which is formless, confused, totally disorderly, and absolutely lawless. Plato (427-347 B.C.) applies the term to the orderless matter before the world former (Demiurge) introduced order in the universe, changing chaos into cosmos. Chaos is also the original condition of the world as described in the Bible (Genesis 1:2). (Etym. Greek chaos, chaos abyss; literally, a cleft; Latin chaos, chaos, confusion.)