Clear all
Work #1170 · Mid

The Idea of a Christian Society

Thomas Stearns Eliot
1939 · English
Prose lectures / Religious-political essay · Anglo-Catholic / Religious-cultural conservatism

Eliot's 1939 prose lectures — proposal for a properly-Christian organisation of British political-cultural life

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Idea of a Christian Society (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
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 Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
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 Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Idea of a Christian Society

The March 1939 pre-war moment of the Cambridge lectures.

Space

The Idea of a Christian Society

The British political-cultural setting that Eliot addresses.

Matter

The Idea of a Christian Society

The embodied political-cultural community whose proper religious-cultural form Eliot proposes.

Observer

The Idea of a Christian Society

Eliot the religious-cultural-conservative essayist as proper observer.

Energy

The Idea of a Christian Society

The religious-cultural-political energies of pre-war British conservative-religious thought.

Information

The Idea of a Christian Society

The political-religious-cultural content of the lectures.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Idea of a Christian Society

Eliot's religious-cultural conservatism has been variously assessed — defenders see prescient warning about liberal-secular hollowing-out, critics see authoritarian-elitist religious-political sensibility.