Wendy Doniger's foundational study is both modern in its engagement with a diverse range of religions and refreshingly classic in its transhistorical cross-cultural approach. By responsibly analyzing patterns and themes across context Doniger reinvigorates the comparative reading of religion tapping into a wealth of narrative traditions from the instructive tales of Judaism and Christianity to the moral lessons of the Bhagavad Gita. She extracts political meaning from a variety of texts while respecting the original ideas of each. A new preface confronts the difficulty of contextualizing the comparison of religions as well as controversies over choosing subjects and positioning arguments and the text itself is expanded and updated throughout.