Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Dogmatics in Outline
Barth's 1946 Bonn lectures — Apostles' Creed walked through as the structure of Christian dogma
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Dogmatics in Outline (Late-middle) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Finite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Dogmatics in Outline
1946 lectures; 1947 publication. Barth was 60.
Space
Dogmatics in Outline
Bombed Bonn — the University of Bonn was largely in ruins from Allied bombing; the lectures were given in the basement Hörsaal of the destroyed main building. Barth had returned from his Swiss exile for the symbolic post-war rebuilding semester.
Matter
Dogmatics in Outline
Single short lecture-based book (~150 pages in standard English translation). Form is 24 lectures walking through the Apostles' Creed.
Observer
Dogmatics in Outline
Late-middle Barth. The observer-theologian is at the height of his post-war international authority, simultaneously working on the massive Church Dogmatics and addressing the immediate German post-war pastoral situation.
Energy
Dogmatics in Outline
Reconstructive-dogmatic energies of postwar Germany. The lectures are at once theological exposition and pastoral rebuilding-gesture.
Information
Dogmatics in Outline
Single accessible book. The 24-lecture structure mirrors the Apostles' Creed.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The standard short Barth — gateway to the Church Dogmatics for several generations. Continuously read in seminary and university teaching as the accessible introduction to Barth's mature dogmatic position; one of the most-translated twentieth-century Protestant-theological works.