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.
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Christ and the Virgin speak to a Swedish noblewoman — prophetic commands to reform the Church, recall popes from Avignon, and renew Christendom
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| 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 | not engaged |
| 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 | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| 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
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Both — the eternal God and created historical time. The Revelations span past (Christ's passion), present (current corruption of the Church), and future (prophecies of judgement). Linear, uni-directional salvation history. Non-deterministic: the visions presuppose that rulers can choose to obey the divine commands.
Space
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Finite medieval cosmos. The visions describe heaven, purgatory, hell, and earthly locations (Rome, Naples, the Holy Land) as real places. Substantival, three-dimensional, local.
Matter
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Created, finite, conserved, sacramentally real. The vivid physicality of the Christological visions — the blood, the wounds, the bodily suffering — affirms the reality and significance of matter.
Observer
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Birgitta is an embodied observer who receives visions transcending ordinary perception — hence Multiple time-instances (she sees past and future events). Both physicality and agency. The Trinitarian God is the personal metaphysical agent who initiates and controls the visions.
Energy
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
Divine power is infinite and sustains all creation. Within the created order, energy is finite and conserved. The Revelations do not theorise energy independently.
Information
Revelations (Revelationes Caelestes)
The Revelations are themselves an information channel from God to humanity. Divine knowledge is total; human knowledge is immediate but expandable through revelation. Personal conservation via the immortal soul.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The central tension is authenticity: are these genuine divine communications or the products of a politically ambitious woman and her clerical circle? The debate at the Council of Basel exposed the difficulty of adjudicating between genuine prophecy and enthusiastic (or interested) invention. The political specificity of the Revelations — demanding particular policies of identifiable rulers — makes them uniquely vulnerable to the charge of instrumentalisation.