Across families
Orthodox Judaism and Roman Catholicism
Different families with 10 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.15 (0 would be identical).
Covenant with a people, worked out in a law that covers ordinary life in detail, under an interpretive authority that is rabbinic rather than priestly. The lowest E3 value in the matrix: belonging here is inherited, not chosen.
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.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at an intentional act — 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.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.03.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.03.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated and leaning to be disciplined respectively — a gap of 0.03.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.07.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at revealed and fixed — a gap of 0.07.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.07.
A4 Locus
Both sit at between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it — a gap of 0.07.
Where they part company
C3 The human condition
Orthodox Judaism: leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound. Roman Catholicism: fallen and in need of rescue. A gap of 0.55 on an axis running from “fallen and in need of rescue” to “ignorant but fundamentally sound”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Orthodox Judaism | 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 | 0.07 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | leaning strictly one | 0.18 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | 0.07 |
| B1 Source of truth | revealed and fixed | revealed and fixed | 0.07 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | literal and binding | leaning literal and binding | 0.20 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | clergy and tradition decide | 0.07 |
| C1 Survival of the self | leaning continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.23 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.03 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | fallen and in need of rescue | 0.55 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | leaning given as grace | 0.40 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.03 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | leaning to be disciplined | 0.03 |
| E1 Exclusivity | between one true path and many valid paths | leaning one true path | 0.30 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.00 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | a people, inherited | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.37 |
| 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 Orthodox Judaism rest principally on Tanakh, Mishnah and Shulchan Aruch; 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.