{
  "id": "a_lf6fcxpp",
  "oid": 165514,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165515,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "A miracle's speed is not its defining feature",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH08.P007",
      "oid": 200,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH08.P007",
      "exact": "A miracle simply means the swift control of matter by mind.",
      "start": 375,
      "end": 434,
      "prefix": "dual control of matter by mind. ",
      "suffix": " If you wish to feed the people,",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH08.P007#char=375,434"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "The analogy makes reform and miracle share a desirable end: intelligent agency overcoming an apparently fixed obstacle. It does not by itself distinguish miracle from an unusually rapid natural operation. Aquinas supplies the missing distinction in the Summa theologiae, I, question 105: a miracle exceeds the order of created causes, whereas ordinary effects also depend on God. In article 8, his third rank of miracle includes a familiar kind of effect produced in an extraordinary manner, such as recovery without the usual natural process. Speed can matter as part of that manner; it is not the general definition. [Summa I.105.5–8, English Dominican translation, revised edition 1920](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1105.htm).\n\nArticle 6 closely parallels Chesterton's appeal to divine liberty: the creator is not subordinate to the order of secondary causes. It also qualifies the image of unbounded freedom: God cannot act against his own goodness or will. This is a theological comparison, not evidence that Chesterton took the formulation from Aquinas.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1105.htm",
      "title": "Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, I, question 105",
      "locator": "Articles 5–8, especially article 6 answer and article 8 answer; English Dominican translation, second revised edition, 1920",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1105.htm",
      "title": "Summa I.105.5–8, English Dominican translation, revised edition 1920"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "No direct textual influence is established."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-08-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P007",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Theological contextualization",
        "question": "How accurately does the contrast between Catholic and Calvinist freedom represent a major Reformed confession?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Theological contextualization",
        "question": "How does the definition of miracle as swift mental control compare with Aquinas's account?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Biblical references",
        "question": "What biblical scenes support the feeding and chaining images, and how are they transformed?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:914079ee93c935d39919d65f7be8e4f7413b61be5acd83e3eb69477463fd6045",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T18:31:03Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_lf6fcxpp",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_lf6fcxpp/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}