{
  "id": "a_rgfcj5xw",
  "oid": 165316,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165317,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "The little child who is greatest",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH06.P021",
      "oid": 146,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH06.P021",
      "exact": "make a man as a little child",
      "start": 1214,
      "end": 1242,
      "prefix": " strict and searching humility) ",
      "suffix": ", who can sit at the feet of the",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH06.P021#char=1214,1242"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "This is a probable allusion to Matthew 18:1–4. Asked who is greatest in heaven's kingdom, Jesus places a child among the disciples, requires them to become like children, and identifies humbling oneself like that child with being greatest. The King James Version, whose translation first appeared in 1611, explicitly joins humility and greatness in verse 4. Chesterton develops that conjunction into a changed perception: humility lets a person look upward and discover marvels. The Gospel supplies the reversal of rank; the grass and the experience of wonder are Chesterton's imaginative elaboration. This is an allusion, not a verbatim biblical quotation, and its wording alone does not establish which translation he used. [Inspected witness: Project Gutenberg's King James text, Matthew 18:1–4](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10",
      "title": "The King James Version of the Bible, Project Gutenberg ebook 10",
      "locator": "Matthew 18:1–4; especially 18:3–4",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10",
      "title": "Inspected witness: Project Gutenberg's King James text, Matthew 18:1–4"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "The inspected modern electronic KJV witness does not reproduce the typography or spelling of the 1611 printing."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-06-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P021",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Quotations and attributions",
        "question": "What does Arnold's Resignation actually recommend, and how fairly does dilution describe it?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Biblical references",
        "question": "Does becoming a little child recall a Gospel account in which humility and greatness coexist?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Assumed knowledge and unusual language",
        "question": "What does Alice's shrinking permit, and how literally does Chesterton's claim fit Carroll's narrative?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:a17062783a1b99349eb920fae98690453ab6c681bfec37a331b5869dd475cf91",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T17:39:29Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_rgfcj5xw",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_rgfcj5xw/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}