Wendy Doniger's perennially-selling study is both modern in its engagement with a diverse range of religions and refreshingly classic in its transhistorical, cross-cultural approach. Doniger reinvigorates the comparative reading of religion through a responsible analysis of patterns and themes across context. Her work is a powerful antidote to the paralysis of postcolonial theory, which rightfully condemns the reduction of religious practice to simple universals. Tapping into a wealth of narrative traditions, from the instructive tales of Judaism and Christianity to the moral lessons of the Bhagavad Gita, Doniger extracts political meaning from a variety of texts while respecting the original ideas of each. Her new preface confronts the difficulty of research in this area, addressing the controversy of choosing subjects and positioning one's argument. The text itself is updated throughout.