{
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  "oid": 165240,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165241,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "A distinct creation need not be an absent God",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH05.P023",
      "oid": 122,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH05.P023",
      "exact": "All creation is separation.",
      "start": 1621,
      "end": 1648,
      "prefix": "a child even in having a child. ",
      "suffix": " Birth is as solemn a parting as",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH05.P023#char=1621,1648"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "The artist and birth images make the world's distinctness emotionally vivid: a creation can be loved without its creator endorsing everything it does. But 'separation' needs qualification if it is read as a theological definition. Aquinas explicitly affirms both God's transcendence and his presence within creatures. In *Summa theologiae* I, q.8, a.1, God is present as the cause of their existence, rather than as a constituent part; being above things does not prevent this presence. [Aquinas, q.8](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1008.htm)\n\nThe detached artwork analogy has a further limit. In I, q.104, a.1, Aquinas distinguishes making something from sustaining its existence: a house survives its builder's departure, but creatures depend continually on God. On that account, Chesterton's 'breaking off' can express a distinction between creator and creature, but cannot mean that the creature subsequently exists independently. The comparison clarifies the metaphor's force without making it a complete account of creation. The inspected witness is the English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920), on New Advent; the medieval work was composed c.1265–1273. [Aquinas, q.104](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm); [chronology](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28242/chapter/213362059)",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1008.htm",
      "title": "Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920)",
      "locator": "I, q.8, a.1, answer and replies 1–3",
      "exact": null
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm",
      "title": "Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920)",
      "locator": "I, q.104, a.1, answer; edition colophon",
      "exact": null
    },
    {
      "url": "https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28242/chapter/213362059",
      "title": "Chronological List of Aquinas's Writings",
      "locator": "General Theological Treatises: Summa theologiae, c.1265–1273",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1008.htm",
      "title": "Aquinas, q.8"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm",
      "title": "Aquinas, q.104"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28242/chapter/213362059",
      "title": "chronology"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "Aquinas is a comparative theological witness, not an established source for this passage. Medieval composition dates are distinguished from the inspected modern translation; first printed publication was not established here."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-05-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P023",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Theological contextualization",
        "question": "Does creation as separation exclude God's continuing presence in creatures?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Philosophical contextualization",
        "question": "How does the box metaphor compare with Spinoza's account of things in God?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:9c8b44c20039f16adefdd16d5cbe865ddf919a4221382f352e62240038faa8c9",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T17:17:32Z",
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  "url": "/a/a_6slwfmfv",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_6slwfmfv/r/1",
  "cited_by": [
    {
      "id": "a_6erz3oqr",
      "revision": 1,
      "title": "Loving the world enough to change it: allegiance, revolt, and the separate Creator",
      "url": "/a/a_6erz3oqr"
    }
  ]
}