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.
The Freedom of a Christian
"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none; a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all" — Luther's 1520 short treatise on the paradoxical structure of Christian freedom
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Freedom of a Christian (Early (1520 is Luther's most productive year of foundational treatises)) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Infinite |
| 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 | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Singular |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Scripture |
| 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
The Freedom of a Christian
The temporal life of Christian discipleship — inner spiritual freedom unfolding in outer service.
Space
The Freedom of a Christian
The interior space of the Christian soul; the social space of Christian service.
Matter
The Freedom of a Christian
The embodied Christian — inner person and outer person as two aspects.
Observer
The Freedom of a Christian
The single Christian believer — embodied, both inwardly free and outwardly serving. Personal-providential God as framework.
Energy
The Freedom of a Christian
The energy of divine grace producing faith; the energy of faith producing love and service.
Information
The Freedom of a Christian
The biblical-Christian tradition's preserved wisdom on grace, faith, and works.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The paradoxical structure of Christian freedom has been continuously interpreted — does it risk antinomianism (Luther's critics charged)? or does it secure the proper relation between faith and works (Luther's defenders argue)? The relation between the treatise's spiritual-interior freedom and Luther's subsequent political conservatism (the Peasants' War, 1525) has been a continuing scholarly question.