Did that really happen? It’s the first question that comes to mind when we hear of a "miracle," a suspension of the normal way the world works, an intrusion of the extraordinary into the everyday. But it’s not the question that matters to Woodward, religion editor of Newsweek. His subject is not the literal veracity of miracles but their meaning within the traditions of the world’s five major religions. "Miracles have the character of signs and wonders," he writes. "As wonders, miracles are always astonishing, but as signs they are never wholly inexplicable."

Woodward’s approach to the subject is utterly straightforward. He considers the five religions in turn—the three monotheistic faiths in the first part of the book, the two polytheistic Indian religions in the second—and begins in each case with a compendium of the miraculous deeds of their founding and central figures, such as Moses, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, and the Buddha. He follows the chapters on the foundational miracles with chapters on the miracles of the great saints, sages, and spiritual masters in each tradition who took up the example of the first masters: "In this way, we can see how miracles themselves become signs of the continuing power and presence of God in this world (for Jews, Christians, and Muslims), of the continuing power of the diverse gods and goddesses (in Hinduism), and of the continuing power of the Dharma, or teachings, of the Buddha and, in some Buddhist traditions, of the enduring presence of the Buddha himself."

The entropy that exempts nothing mortal has had its way with miracles too, and Woodward detects a fundamental change in the contemporary tradition: "Miracles have become detached from the rigors of spiritual attainment and from the discernment taught by all religious traditions. Relocated in the theater of the questing inner self, the modern miracle has become a sign of the God within us all. The idea of a miracle has thus been turned on its head. Where classical miracle stories inspired fear and awe, inducing worship of God and admiration of the saints, modern miracles tend to inspire admiration of the divinity that is the self."

You can’t help but admire what Woodward has accomplished in this book. He has fashioned graceful, readable, and illuminating accounts of the various miracle traditions, and, through those narratives of external action, he has found the internal force of the religions. Of course, he does not elevate one religion or religious tradition above another. That would be insensitive, and he is unfailingly sober and respectful. But a little partisan passion in Woodward’s scrupulous presentation would have been a forgivable sin and lent some heat to the considerable light.

—James Morris