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.
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
The Golden Mouth on the First Gospel — every passage a moral demand, every parable a call to share wealth and serve the poor
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | 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 | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | not engaged |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Scripture |
| 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 | not engaged |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
Chrysostom reads Matthew as a first-century historical narrative: the events are concrete, dated, situated in time and place. The eschatological horizon — the Last Judgment — gives time its moral urgency.
Space
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
The spatial world is concrete and urban: Antioch, Constantinople, the marketplace, the homes of the rich and poor. Matthew's Palestine is read with historical specificity.
Matter
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
Material wealth is the central moral problem of the homilies: how is it used? Matter is good (bread, wine, alms are the media of charity and worship) but becomes evil when hoarded.
Observer
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
The observer is an embodied moral agent in community — above all, a listener in church. Chrysostom addresses his congregation directly, assuming that hearing Scripture should lead to action. Agency is both: human freedom is genuine, grace is necessary.
Energy
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
Not treated technically. The moral energy of the homilies is directed at practical charity: "Give your bread to the hungry" is the homiletic equivalent of an energy-transfer principle.
Information
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture is the definitive informational deposit; Chrysostom's entire career is its preservation and proclamation. The homilies are themselves an act of informational conservation: making the text accessible to a fourth-century congregation.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Chrysostom's anti-Jewish polemics — scattered through the Matthean homilies — are in tension with his commitment to literal-historical exegesis, which should in principle lead to understanding the text's Jewish context. His moral demands on the wealthy are absolute and uncompromising, raising questions about economic realism.