{
  "id": "a_vgyymvgj",
  "oid": 165618,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165619,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "The 'how much more' argues from the familiar to the divine",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH09.P008",
      "oid": 228,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH09.P008",
      "exact": "an almost furious use of the _a fortiori_",
      "start": 1467,
      "end": 1508,
      "prefix": "hink, elsewhere; it consists of ",
      "suffix": ". His \"how much more\" is piled o",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH09.P008#char=1467,1508"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "An *a fortiori* argument moves from an accepted case to another in which the conclusion holds with still greater force. Jesus' examples give Chesterton's description concrete substance. If fallible parents give their children good gifts, 'how much more' will the heavenly Father do so (Matthew 7:9–11); if God clothes short-lived grass, he will much more clothe his hearers (Matthew 6:28–30). The movement is upward in assurance, not simply upward in size. The extraordinary verbal scale Chesterton then evokes comes from different examples: the camel and needle concern the rich person's entry into God's kingdom (Matthew 19:23–26), while the mountain thrown into the sea concerns faith and prayer (Matthew 21:20–22). Chesterton gathers several kinds of Gospel rhetoric into one impression of gigantic energy.\n\nHis cautious 'not to be found, I think, elsewhere' is strongest as an appreciation of the whole literary effect, rather than a claim that Jesus invented the argumentative form. Deuteronomy 31:27 already makes a 'how much more' argument: if Israel rebels while Moses lives, rebellion is still more to be expected after his death. The biblical precedent qualifies exclusivity without dissolving Chesterton's observation about the force with which Jesus uses the form. These comparisons use the King James Version, first published in 1611, as transmitted in Project Gutenberg's electronic text; they identify parallels rather than establish which Bible Chesterton consulted.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10",
      "title": "The Bible, King James Version",
      "locator": "Matthew 6:28–30; 7:9–11; 19:23–26; 21:20–22; Deuteronomy 31:27",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [],
  "limits": [
    "The uniqueness of the whole style is a literary judgment, not settled by identifying a prior example of the argument form."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-09-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P008",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Biblical references",
        "question": "What do Christ's a fortiori arguments actually argue, and how distinctive is the form?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Quotations and attributions",
        "question": "Does 'a sword of slaughter' accurately reproduce Jesus' sword sayings, and what do their contexts add?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:6424766572d687e68171f7f2f092a9abf28f93b86721cc96e185d8e8b7b39f93",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T18:51:18Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_vgyymvgj",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_vgyymvgj/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}