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  "id": "CH06.P004",
  "oid": 129,
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "label": null,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
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  "work_metadata": {
    "title": "Orthodoxy",
    "authors": [
      "G. K. Chesterton"
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    "description": "G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy (1908), his account of how he came to Christian belief: the full text with annotations, cited sources and commentary.",
    "original_publication_year": 1908,
    "alternate_titles": [],
    "subjects": [
      "Christian apologetics",
      "Christianity",
      "Philosophy of religion",
      "Paradox",
      "G. K. Chesterton",
      "English literature, 20th century"
    ],
    "metadata_version": 2,
    "metadata_updated_at": "2026-11-07T20:29:57Z"
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  "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH06.P004",
  "text": "I have alluded to an unmeaning phrase to the effect that such and such a creed cannot be believed in our age. Of course, anything can be believed in any age. But, oddly enough, there really is a sense in which a creed, if it is believed at all, can be believed more fixedly in a complex society than in a simple one. If a man finds Christianity true in Birmingham, he has actually clearer reasons for faith than if he had found it true in Mercia. For the more complicated seems the coincidence, the less it can be a coincidence. If snowflakes fell in the shape, say, of the heart of Midlothian, it might be an accident. But if snowflakes fell in the exact shape of the maze at Hampton Court, I think one might call it a miracle. It is exactly as of such a miracle that I have since come to feel of the philosophy of Christianity. The complication of our modern world proves the truth of the creed more perfectly than any of the plain problems of the ages of faith. It was in Notting Hill and Battersea that I began to see that Christianity was true. This is why the faith has that elaboration of doctrines and details which so much distresses those who admire Christianity without believing in it. When once one believes in a creed, one is proud of its complexity, as scientists are proud of the complexity of science. It shows how rich it is in discoveries. If it is right at all, it is a compliment to say that it's elaborately right. A stick might fit a hole or a stone a hollow by accident. But a key and a lock are both complex. And if a key fits a lock, you know it is the right key.",
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      "created_at": "2026-11-07T17:39:29Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-11-07T17:39:29Z",
      "title": "A heart-shaped outline and a maze's exact plan",
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          "exact": "If snowflakes fell in the shape, say, of the heart of Midlothian, it might be an accident. But if snowflakes fell in the exact shape of the maze at Hampton Court, I think one might call it a miracle.",
          "start": 529,
          "end": 728,
          "prefix": "e less it can be a coincidence. ",
          "suffix": " It is exactly as of such a mira",
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            "question": "What visible shapes are evoked by the heart of Midlothian and Hampton Court maze, and what does their contrast contribute to the argument?"
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            "approach": "Philosophical contextualization: then and since",
            "question": "How does the key-and-lock argument compare with Newman's account of converging probabilities, and what conditions distinguish evidential fit from mere complexity?"
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      "created_at": "2026-11-07T19:11:19Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-11-07T19:11:19Z",
      "title": "A home large enough for discovery: the developing argument of Orthodoxy",
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      "title": "The balance that lets opposed passions keep their strength",
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