This dictionary is a thoroughly revised and expanded edition of the book published in 1984 as the " Penguin Dictionary of Religions. It has undergone substantial change and considerable expansion, doubling the number of contributors from all parts of the world.

The original Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, published in 1984, quickly established itself as a standard introduction to the major religions in the modern world for students, professionals in various fields and general readers. Written by a team of leading international scholars in a clear and readable style, each chapter provides a general introduction to the sources and history of the religion, then its teachings, practices, popular traditions and at twentieth-century developments. This New Handbook of Living Religions not only updates existing chapters to reflect events in the 1990s and to account for recent scholarship, but also includes new material on modern China, gender issues and spirituality. In addition there is a whole new section looking at modern diaspora religions in the West with four new chapters on South Asian religions in the USA, Canada, Britain and the Pacific area. This section on the religions of minority communities concludes with a further new chapter looking at these religious migrations in a comparative international perspective.