Clear all
Work #1639 · Early (papacy)

Redemptor Hominis

Karol Józef Wojtyła / Pope John Paul II
1979 (4 March) · Latin (Italian working language)
Papal encyclical · Roman Catholic teaching / personalist-Thomist Catholic theology

John Paul II's 1979 first encyclical 'Redemptor Hominis' — Christ the Redeemer as the centre of Christian anthropology

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute Redemptor Hominis (Early (papacy))
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 Implicit
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Implicit
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Implicit
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
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 Implicit

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

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

Time

Redemptor Hominis

4 March 1979. John Paul II had been Pope for less than five months; the encyclical was substantially Karol Wojtyła's own work (most papal encyclicals are drafted by curial committees with the Pope's approval; Redemptor Hominis is exceptional in being substantially the Pope's own composition).

Space

Redemptor Hominis

Vatican — the central institutional location of the Roman Catholic Church.

Matter

Redemptor Hominis

First papal encyclical of John Paul II (~30000 words, ~22 sections).

Observer

Redemptor Hominis

Early papacy of John Paul II. The observer-Pope is establishing his pontifical programme in its inaugural document.

Energy

Redemptor Hominis

Programmatic-papal energies. The encyclical is unusually substantive philosophically — Wojtyła's distinctive philosophical anthropology pervades the magisterial document.

Information

Redemptor Hominis

Single encyclical. The Christological-anthropological framework ('Christ reveals man to himself') is the central informational structure.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Redemptor Hominis

Inaugural programmatic encyclical of the John Paul II pontificate; defining personalist-Thomist statement. Continuously read in subsequent Catholic-magisterial documents; the Christological-personalist framework shaped 27 years of papal teaching across thirteen further encyclicals.