{
  "id": "a_boaabn6r",
  "oid": 165644,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165645,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "Faith before miracles—and miracles before faith",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH09.P014",
      "oid": 234,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH09.P014",
      "exact": "the miracle could only come to him who believed in it",
      "start": 123,
      "end": 176,
      "prefix": " and acceptance: in short, that ",
      "suffix": ". It may be so, and if it is so ",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH09.P014#char=123,176"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "This resembles a real Gospel pattern without being a universal Gospel rule. At Nazareth, Mark places Jesus's restricted mighty works beside the inhabitants' unbelief, although he still heals a few sick people (Mark 6:1–6). In the healing of the afflicted boy, Jesus connects possibility with belief, but the father's response combines belief with acknowledged unbelief (Mark 9:22–27). These narratives provide context for Chesterton's suggestion that spiritual receptivity might be relevant; they do not make perfect assurance an entrance requirement. [King James Version, Mark 6 and 9](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).\n\nJohn supplies an especially useful qualification. Thomas refuses his companions' report until he can inspect Jesus's wounds; Jesus subsequently appears and invites that inspection, after which Thomas confesses belief (John 20:24–29). The chapter then says its recorded signs are intended to produce belief in readers (20:30–31). Here evidence can precede belief. Chesterton carefully presents the faith requirement as a possible objection—‘It may be so’—rather than explicitly attributing an exceptionless law to Jesus. Reading his conditional beside these passages prevents its conversion into such a law. These are contextual parallels, not identifiable quotations or certain allusions. The inspected text is Project Gutenberg's King James Version, updated 2024; the translation was first published in 1611. [John 20:24–31](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10",
      "title": "The King James Version of the Bible",
      "locator": "Mark 6:1–6; Mark 9:22–27; John 20:24–31; Project Gutenberg ebook 10, text updated October 29, 2024",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10",
      "title": "King James Version, Mark 6 and 9"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "No specific biblical wording is quoted by Chesterton here; the relationships are contextual.",
    "The passages describe narrative sequences, not a complete theological account of faith and miracles."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-09-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P014",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Philosophical contextualization: then and since",
        "question": "How does allowing faith as a condition of experience compare with William James's argument for preliminary trust, and what does it actually establish?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Biblical references",
        "question": "Do Gospel narratives make prior belief a necessary condition of every miracle?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:28bfe35a22b4897919fad856c8fe3ba7aae27c0baa55cc9a5eda4147cfefe767",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T18:51:18Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_boaabn6r",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_boaabn6r/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}