The volume is a sequel to "India's Agony Over Religion" (State University of New York Press, 1995, and Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997) in the sense that it develops a theory of religion first set forth in the original volume but expands the horizon of the first volume to encompass the general history of religions [inclusive of the Indic traditions: Hindu, Buddhist, Jain; the Abrahamic traditions: Hebrew/Jewish, Christian, Islamic; and the East Asian traditions: Confucian, Daoist, Shinto]. The central argument in the book is the assertion that the term "religion" is not primarily significant by its use as a noun, but is better understood in its adjectival sense, namely, "religious," in such expressions as "the religious referent," "the religious issue," or simply, "the religious question.