Confessiones vs Orthodoxy: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, 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…
Orthodoxy
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Orthodoxy is G. K. Chesterton’s response to his critics’ assertion that his earlier collection of essays, Heretics, had “merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy.” In his…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Orthodoxy is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 7 for Confessiones.
- Confessiones has the widest readership — 77983 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Confessiones | Orthodoxy | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (77983) | 4.2 (43624) |
| Hardcover | — | 4.1 (63) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.5 (132) |
Reception
| Confessiones | Orthodoxy | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 77983 | 43624 |
| Editions | 450 | 551 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 113595 | 56333 |
| Reading it now | 17969 | 6752 |
| Written reviews | 5285 | 3309 |
| Wikipedia attention | 11386 | 7603 |
| Pages | 383 | 118 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Confessiones or Orthodoxy?
Orthodoxy has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Orthodoxy 4.2/5, Confessiones 4.0/5).
Which is shorter to read: Confessiones or Orthodoxy?
Orthodoxy is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Orthodoxy (118 pages, ≈ 2 h 11 m); Confessiones (383 pages, ≈ 7 h 06 m).
Which is harder to read: Confessiones or Orthodoxy?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Confessiones: Demanding; Orthodoxy: Challenging.