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.
A Theology of Liberation
Theology done from the underside of Latin American history — the option for the poor as the heart of Christian faith
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | A Theology of Liberation (Early (Gutiérrez's breakthrough work; the founding text of the school)) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| Observer · Theological Method | Magisterial |
| 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
A Theology of Liberation
Linear historical time oriented toward eschatological consummation; God acts liberatively in history.
Space
A Theology of Liberation
Created substantival; the slum, the parish, the basic ecclesial community as sites of theology.
Matter
A Theology of Liberation
Created substantival matter; the bodies of the poor are the loci of theological discernment.
Observer
A Theology of Liberation
Plural; theology done from the standpoint of the poor. Personal metaphysical agency.
Energy
A Theology of Liberation
Standard physics.
Information
A Theology of Liberation
Personal soul conserved; the cloud of witnesses includes the disappeared and martyred.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The 1984 Ratzinger CDF Instruction warned against the "uncritical" use of Marxist analysis. Gutiérrez's subsequent work clarified that Marxism was an analytic instrument, not a doctrinal commitment. The position has been vindicated by its absorption into the mainstream Catholic social teaching of John Paul II (more cautiously) and Francis (more fully).