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 Library  Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > C > Cosmogony   By this
term is understood an account of how the universe (cosmos) came
into being (gonia — gegona = I have become). It differs from
cosmology, or the science of the universe, in this: that the
latter aims at understanding the actual composition and
governing laws of the universe as it now exists; while the
former answers the question as to how it first came to be. The
Christian Faith accounts for the origin of the universe by
creation ex nihilo of the matter out of which the universe
arose, and the preservatio, or maintenance, of Providence
according to which it developed into what it now is. Modern
science has propounded many theories as to how the primieval
gaseous substance evolved into the present harmony of the
universe. These theories may be called scientific cosmogonies;
and the account of the origin of the world given in Genesis, i
and ii, is styled Mosaic cosmogony. The word cosmogony