Part IIIAlignment ranking: fifteen readings on fourteen criteria
How closely each teacher and tradition tracks the text-only timeline, scored on fourteen placements the timeline argued from the text. The rank measures distance from that reading, not truth: a tradition that reads the same passages symbolically can be internally consistent and still score low here.
Scoring rule. Each of the fourteen points is marked A (same placement, 2 points), P (compatible but narrower, shifted, or left open, 1 point), D (a different placement or a denial, 0 points) or U (not taught, scored 1 like “open,” since silence neither agrees nor contradicts). Maximum 28. Ties are broken by fewer D marks, then by more points actually addressed. Official texts are used where they exist; where a body is silent, the view its own teachers hold (“common”) is scored, and the sheet says which.
Score sheet
Hover a cell for the reason. Row numbers refer to the footnotes in Part I.