Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church has served as the standard English-language introduction to Orthodoxy for half a century, and this audiobook edition carries a third, revised text into a new format. Jonah Martin reads it, and five listeners who left reviews on this specific record describe the same structural fact independently of one another: the book splits cleanly into a historical half and a theological half, and getting the order backward costs you. That kind of agreement across five separate voices is unusual enough to build a review around, so that is where I am starting.
Five Reviewers Agree History Comes Before Theology
Derek Souleotes, still working through the book at the time of writing, lays out the split directly: the first part covers the history of the Orthodox Church, the second its theology and worship. That review warns that skipping ahead to the Faith and Worship section without the history first, especially the early chapters, makes certain things hard to follow. Gunner's review backs this up from the other side, describing a comprehensive history that runs from the great schism through the conversion of the Slavs and on into the 2010s, followed by a second part on doctrine, belief, and practice that the review calls just as thorough.
Mr Joseph Easley's review narrows the history section further: the first eight centuries of common Christian development, and the seven Ecumenical Councils recognized across East and West, Catholic and Protestant, that settled the major doctrinal disputes. He puts roughly half the book in that historical lane, tracing the East-West split and the spread of Orthodoxy before the book turns to the material most listeners are probably here for. J. Courter, a lifelong Protestant with seminary training, found the history section clear and smooth rather than dry, despite calling it almost half the runtime on its own.
Revised With an Eye Toward Church Reunion
This third edition also carries a specific stated purpose, according to its own synopsis: Ware works through Ecumenical Councils, Sacraments, Free Will, Purgatory, the Papacy, and the relationships between the various Orthodox Churches, and the synopsis says plainly that the author considers a real understanding of Orthodoxy's standpoint necessary before the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches could ever move toward reunion. The book, in other words, was revised and updated with a live theological argument in mind, not just an inventory of facts to memorize.
Martin's Reading and a Convert's Papal Comparison
cmcbrooks came to this one from a Roman Catholic background after visiting a cathedral in Sitka and getting curious about Orthodoxy. What stood out in that review were Ware's own comparisons: papal infallibility against the Orthodox idea of the pope as first among equals, and the more legalistic dogma associated with Roman Catholic teaching set against what the review calls a more mystical Orthodox approach. That is real crossover value for listeners arriving from another Christian tradition rather than from a neutral, comparative-religion starting point.
Jonah Martin narrates, and the publisher's own copy calls the reading expert, with Blake Rook credited for audio engineering. The record comes from Echo Point Books and Media, described in its own synopsis as an independent bookseller based in Brattleboro, Vermont, which is a smaller and more personal publishing pedigree than a lot of what turns up on a shelf this size. Gunner's review adds a useful piece of self-awareness from inside the material itself: a caution not to come away feeling like a scholar after finishing it, since the book is dense enough to invite that mistake.
J. Courter offers a practical listening tip worth passing along directly: rather than trying to summarize everything the book covers, check the table of contents to see whether the specific ground you care about, whether that is the history, the sacraments, or the relations between Orthodox Churches, is actually in scope before committing twelve hours to it. That review frames the book as serving two different kinds of listeners, though the text cuts off before spelling out exactly who those two groups are.
Twelve Hours, and a Rating That Doesn't Compute
Five people clearly took the time to write full reviews of this book, four rating it five stars and one giving it four. And yet the counter sitting above those five entries reports a total of exactly one rating, producing a 4.8 average that no single vote can mathematically generate under any rounding convention I know of. I'd rather flag that mismatch than let the badge stand unquestioned.
This is also a genuinely long sit at just over twelve hours, and Derek Souleotes's warning about the ordering matters here specifically: this is not a book built for skipping around. The synopsis frames Ware's own purpose plainly, arguing that understanding Orthodoxy's standpoint is necessary before Roman Catholic and Protestant churches can even begin talking about reunion, which tells you this text is written with an argument in mind, not just a survey.
The word expert, describing Jonah Martin's reading, comes entirely from the publisher's own copy rather than from any of the five people who left a written review here. Their praise is squarely about the content, the history, the theology, the clarity of the writing, and stops short of judging the performance itself one way or the other.
Two Halves, Best Taken as Separate Sessions
Listeners with a Catholic or Protestant background who want to understand Orthodoxy on its own terms, students of church history, and anyone who left an Orthodox site or service curious the way cmcbrooks did after Sitka will get real use out of this. Skip it if you want a quick overview rather than a full course, or if you were hoping to jump straight to theology without the history section that four different reviewers say the book depends on.
If you do commit, plan on treating the two halves as separate listening sessions rather than one continuous twelve-hour block. The history section rewards attention on its own terms, and going in expecting a quick primer on Orthodox belief is the surest way to end up frustrated with a book that five out of five reviewers otherwise call worth the time.
Quick Take
- Performance: Jonah Martin reads, credited by the publisher as an expert reading, with Blake Rook credited for audio engineering.
- What it covers: Orthodox history and theology, the East-West schism, ecumenical dialogue
- Feel: Dense, scholarly, patient
- Our call: A thorough introduction worth the time, provided you take the history section as seriously as the theology.
