The concept of creation from chaos is close to that of the ex nihilo creation. But in this case it is a void—the undifferentiated chaos—that precedes the creation of the universe. The void can be the primordial waters. In Sumer and Babylon the waters are personified as Nammu or Tiamat. In India, Vishnu sleeps on the waters before the creation. In Native America, the primordial waters are the source of creation in earth-diver myths.

The undifferentiated earth itself can be the chaos. In Australian aboriginal culture, the ancestors created the world as they differentiated the void of Dreamtime.

The cosmic egg is another symbol of the primeval chaos. It is creation waiting to happen. In the Chinese story, Pangu emerges from the world egg, as do the Dogon Nummu twins.

Regarding the modern world of science, was the material out of which creation came in the Big Bang undifferentiated chaos or nothingness?