Across families
Dvaita Vedanta and Oriental Orthodoxy
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.19 (0 would be identical).
God, souls and matter are permanently distinct — an unusually sharp dualism inside Vedanta, and the closest Hindu school to a classical theistic picture. Liberation depends on divine grace, not on realising an identity that was there all along.
The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches, separated from the rest of Christendom since 451 over christology. Doctrinally close to Eastern Orthodoxy, with a heavier fasting discipline and a strongly inherited communal identity.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.02.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.03.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.03.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at leaning literal and binding — a gap of 0.07.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at leaning revealed and fixed and revealed and fixed respectively — a gap of 0.08.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.08.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at leaning a people, inherited — a gap of 0.08.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.10.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at leaning strictly one — a gap of 0.10.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning given as grace — a gap of 0.12.
Where they part company
C2 Shape of time
Dvaita Vedanta: cyclical return. Oriental Orthodoxy: one life, then judgment. A gap of 0.88 on an axis running from “one life, then judgment” to “cyclical return”.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Dvaita Vedanta: beginningless or natural. Oriental Orthodoxy: an intentional act. A gap of 0.83 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Dvaita Vedanta | Oriental Orthodoxy | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.03 |
| A3 Plurality | leaning strictly one | leaning strictly one | 0.10 |
| A4 Locus | leaning wholly beyond the world | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | 0.23 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | revealed and fixed | 0.08 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | leaning literal and binding | 0.07 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | clergy and tradition decide | 0.08 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.03 |
| C2 Shape of time | cyclical return | one life, then judgment | 0.88 |
| C3 The human condition | between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning fallen and in need of rescue | 0.30 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning given as grace | leaning given as grace | 0.12 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.10 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be disciplined | to be disciplined | 0.15 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning one true path | one true path | 0.18 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | an intentional act | 0.83 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | leaning a people, inherited | 0.08 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.02 |
Positions for Dvaita Vedanta rest principally on Madhva’s Anuvyakhyana and Dvaita commentarial tradition; for Oriental Orthodoxy, on Coptic Orthodox catechetical texts and the Council of Ephesus (431). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.