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.
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
Vexilla Regis prodeunt — the Cross as royal banner, where classical verse meets Christian mystery
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns |
|---|---|
| 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 | not engaged |
| 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 | Mediate |
| 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 | 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
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
Both — the hymns celebrate an eternal truth (Christ's kingship) manifested in a historical event (the Crucifixion) and re-presented in liturgical time. Each singing collapses the distance between Calvary and the present. Linear and eschatological: history moves toward final victory.
Space
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
Finite and local: the relic, the convent, the processional route. But the Cross is also cosmic: "the world's salvation hangs upon this tree." Space is sacramental — material places bear eternal significance.
Matter
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
Material, sacred, and conserved. The relic — a fragment of wood — is venerated because matter can bear divine presence. "Dulce lignum" (sweet wood): matter is transformed by its participation in the redemptive event, not destroyed or transcended.
Observer
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
The worshipping community is embodied, active, and plural. The hymn is performative — it constitutes the act of worship it describes. Knowledge is mediate (through liturgy and tradition). Ultimate agency is personal: the Trinitarian God revealed in Christ.
Energy
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
Not theorised. Conventional patristic framework: finite created energy under divine providence. The hymns' imagery is dynamic (battle, flowing blood, advancing banners) but poetic, not physical.
Information
Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns
The hymns are information-conservation devices par excellence: they encode theology in memorable poetic form for liturgical transmission across centuries. Their 1,500-year continuous use demonstrates the power of aesthetic form as an information-preservation technology.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The classical form carries Christian content — but does it also carry pagan associations? The "Pange Lingua" echoes Catullus's hymn to Attis in metre; the language of battle and kingship borrows from imperial panegyric. The tension between classical aesthetic and Christian content is the permanent question of Christian humanism, and Fortunatus's hymns are among its earliest and most successful negotiations.