Across families
Dvaita Vedanta and Roman Catholicism
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: 0.18 (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.
A personal, transcendent God known through revelation and reason together, mediated by a sacramental church with teaching authority. Humanity is wounded and rescued by grace, which reaches people through sacraments rather than around them.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning given as grace — a gap of 0.00.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.03.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at leaning revealed and fixed and revealed and fixed respectively — a gap of 0.03.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.03.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be disciplined — a gap of 0.05.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning one true path — a gap of 0.05.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.07.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.07.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at leaning strictly one — a gap of 0.08.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.08.
Where they part company
C2 Shape of time
Dvaita Vedanta: cyclical return. Roman Catholicism: 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. Roman Catholicism: an intentional act. A gap of 0.83 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
C3 The human condition
Dvaita Vedanta: between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound. Roman Catholicism: fallen and in need of rescue. A gap of 0.40 on an axis running from “fallen and in need of rescue” to “ignorant but fundamentally sound”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Dvaita Vedanta | Roman Catholicism | 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 | 0.08 |
| A4 Locus | leaning wholly beyond the world | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | 0.20 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | revealed and fixed | 0.03 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | leaning literal and binding | 0.17 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | clergy and tradition decide | 0.07 |
| 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 | fallen and in need of rescue | 0.40 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning given as grace | leaning given as grace | 0.00 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.07 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be disciplined | leaning to be disciplined | 0.05 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning one true path | leaning one true path | 0.05 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | an intentional act | 0.83 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.15 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.08 |
Positions for Dvaita Vedanta rest principally on Madhva’s Anuvyakhyana and Dvaita commentarial tradition; for Roman Catholicism, on Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed., 1997). 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.