Confessiones vs Exercitia spiritualia: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Christian saints, Spiritual life, Religion, Biography & Memoir, History
Confessiones
“i (1) 'You are great, Lord, and highly to be praised (Ps. 47: 2): great is your power and your wisdom is immeasurable' (Ps. 146:5).”
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Garry Wills’s complete translation of Saint Augustine’s spiritual masterpiece—available now for the first time Garry Wills is an exceptionally gifted translator and one of our best writers on religion today. His…
Exercitia spiritualia
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This new edition, with its accompanying introduction and commentary, is intended for use as a manual by those making, directing or studying the "Exercises". In the case of retreatants, their chief aim is to foster the…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Exercitia spiritualia is the quickest read — about 4 hours vs 7 for Confessiones.
- Confessiones has the widest readership — 77983 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Confessiones | Exercitia spiritualia | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (77983) | — |
Reception
| Confessiones | Exercitia spiritualia | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 77983 | 1 |
| Editions | 450 | 145 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 113595 | — |
| Reading it now | 17969 | — |
| Written reviews | 5285 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 11386 | 3355 |
| Pages | 383 | 217 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Confessiones or Exercitia spiritualia?
Confessiones has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Confessiones 4.0/5, Exercitia spiritualia 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: Confessiones or Exercitia spiritualia?
Exercitia spiritualia is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Exercitia spiritualia (217 pages, ≈ 4 h 01 m); Confessiones (383 pages, ≈ 7 h 06 m).
Which is harder to read: Confessiones or Exercitia spiritualia?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Confessiones: Demanding; Exercitia spiritualia: Demanding.