ABSTRACT
In Genesis 1:26 and 2:7, God creates Man. In the first account, Man is defined as the image and likeness of God; in the second, he is created out of ‘the dust of the earth’ (limus terrae) and animated by God breathing life into his nostrils. Van Helmont reads these passages to mean that Man is dissimilar to Nature. Man was created differently from all other things, through the ‘mystery’ of an anomalous creation (mysterium hujus anomalae creationis). 1
