John Piper's New Religion, Part 3: Distorting the Biblical Concept of God

True to his Calvinistic beliefs, John Piper says that it was actually God who caused the brutal Nazi Holocaust; and it is God who brings about all the horrific murders inflicted by serial killers, and (according to Piper), God even brings about the sexual abuse of young children! Commenting on this, Piper affirms:

“This includes — as incredible and as unacceptable as it may currently seem — God’s having even brought about the Nazis’ brutality at Birkenau and Auschwitz as well as the terrible killings of Dennis Rader and even the sexual abuse of a young child: ‘The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil’ (Proverbs 16:4, NASB). ‘When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14, NIV).”[1]

But this is nothing less than blasphemy! Piper & his band of hirelings (Jn. 10:12) are twisting Scripture “to their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:16) and contorting the God of love into a demonic monster! As one pastor has succinctly stated: “I can think of no greater blasphemy – and there is no other word for it – than to claim that all such evil is by God’s design, that it is what he wanted and wants. [...] This wicked, blasphemous claim is really the root of all that is wrong with Calvinism.”

 

Piper’s Proof-Texts

Piper appeals to Proverbs 16:4 as a proof-text in support of his view, but this verse simply means that God has a purpose for everything He allows; not that He makes it happen, but He allows it to happen. Yes, God made the wicked (He made everything: Acts 17:24); but He did not make them be wicked! That was their choice (see Gen. 6:5-6). King Solomon wisely said: “Here is all I have been able to discover: God made the race of men upright, but many a cunning wile have they contrived” (Eccl. 7:29, Moffatt translation). T. T. Perowne affirms: “It is not said that God makes a man wicked, for He ‘made man upright’ (Eccles. vii. 29. Comp. Gen. i. 26, 27, 31), but that being wicked by his own choice he comes under the irrevocable law which dooms him to ‘the day of evil,’ of calamity and punishment. By this, the Apostle teaches us, even in its final and most awful form, is revealed not the arbitrary predestination, but ‘the righteous judgement of God.’ Rom. ii. 5—11.”[2] Piper also appeals to Ephesians 1:11, which he interprets to mean that God “brings about all things”.[3] But this is a misunderstanding of the Greek verb energeō, which literally means “to work in”. W. E. Vine in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words affirms: “ENERGEŌ (energeō), lit., to work in”.[4] Commenting on Ephesians 1:11, H. C. G. Moule similarly states: “The Gr. verb rendered ‘worketh’ is a compound; lit. ‘in-worketh.’ The usage of the verb warns us not to press this, but on the other hand the ‘in’ comes out more often than not in the usage. This suggests the explanation, ‘worketh in us;’ a special reference of Divine power to the process of grace in the soul and the Church.”[5] 

 

We can of course agree that God is sovereign, and that He does govern His creation (e.g. Psa. 22:28, 97:1, 103:19; Prov. 21:1; Dan. 4:32, etc.), but what does Piper mean by it? Piper apparently means (as he has said elsewhere) that “God does not just declare which future events will happen; he makes them happen.”[6] Piper seems to be echoing the words of John Calvin in his commentary on Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, when he writes: “Who worketh all things. The circumlocution [roundabout speech] employed in describing the Supreme Being deserves attention. He speaks of Him as the sole agent, and as doing everything according to His own will, so as to leave nothing to be done by man.”[7] But if this is true, then God is the author and doer of sin! The comments on Ephesians 1:11 by F. F. Bruce are helpful, especially when he writes: 

 

“Even sin and other evils, however contrary to His will, can be turned by Him to serve His purposes of glory and blessing. This is pre-eminently manifested by the way in which that sin of sins, the rejection and murder of His incarnate Son, has become in His hands the means by which all the blessings of the gospel are secured to those who believe.”[8] 

 

This statement refutes the one made by John Calvin, because there are things such as “sin and other evils” which are done by others “contrary to His will”. God did not “make” these things happen (as Piper wants us to believe), but He can and does “turn” them to fulfill His ultimate purposes.[9] Ray Stedman affirms: “God does not make anyone sin, yet He is able to weave sinful human choices into His good plan.”[10]

 

Replacing The Light With Delight

Unfortunately, Piper’s distorted view of God goes far beyond Calvinism. An even more troubling aspect of his belief system is that it has been heavily influenced by the pagan philosophy of hedonism. In blatant disobedience to the command of the apostle Paul: “Come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord!” (2 Cor. 6:17), Piper actually yokes the pagan philosophy of hedonism together with Christianity in order to form what he calls “Christian Hedonism”. This is nothing less than Piper’s attempt to fashion a god in his own image, and for his own ultimate pleasure. Piper has replaced Jesus with his new religion of “Christian Hedonism”. It’s sometimes very subtle and just little-by-little introducing some error and twisting a little Scripture, hardly noticeable at times. I’ve already mentioned some specific examples in the two previous articles in this series, but here’s another example. Notice the title of one of Piper’s sermons from a few years ago; it’s titled: “From Darkness to Delight: A Fresh Call for Christian Hedonists”. It’s very subtle, but Piper has substituted “Delight” for “the Light”! In other words, Piper has replaced Jesus, the Light of the world, with his (Piper’s) new religion: his own personal delight!

 

Paul’s Warning To Timothy

I am reminded of the apostle Paul’s warning to young Timothy in his last epistle of 2 Timothy, which was written in about 67 AD. It’s worth noting that Piper especially targets young people as converts to his new religion, so Paul’s words to young Timothy are especially appropriate in regards to Christian Hedonism. Notice what Paul says to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these” (ellipsis added). Someone might say that Piper does love God, but in response to that I would ask: what god? The apostle Paul says that “there are many gods and many lords” (1 Cor. 8:5, NASB). What Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 highlights the danger of Christian Hedonism and sums it up quite well, as if Paul was writing specifically about Piper’s new religion! God in His omniscience foresaw that Christian Hedonism was coming on the horizon in the days ahead (“the last days” in which we live) and He wanted to warn us about it! The Bible says: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8, NKJV).

 

What About Augustine?

Piper loves to quote Augustine, as if Augustine was a Christian Hedonist! It gives a veneer of credibility to Piper’s new religion. But Augustine made a clear separation between Christianity and the secular philosophies of the ancient world, such as hedonism and stoicism. Augustine makes this abundantly clear when he says: 

 

“The philosophers have worked out for themselves ways that go wrong; some have said, ‘This way,’ others, ‘Not that way, but this one.’ They have missed the true way [not missed the emotion of happiness, but missed “the true way”], because God opposes the proud. We would also miss it, unless it had come to us. [What would we also miss? Happiness? No, not merely happiness but rather something infinitely greater, yea rather Someone infinitely greater!] That’s why the Lord says, I am the way (Jn 14:6). Lazy traveler, you didn’t want to come to the way; the way came to you. You were inquiring how you should go: I am the way; you were asking where you should go: I am the truth and the life. You won’t go wrong when you go to him, by him. This is the doctrine of the Christians; certainly not something to be set beside the doctrines of the philosophers, but to be set incomparably above them, whether the sordid one of the Epicureans [the hedonists of the apostle Paul’s day], or the arrogant one of the Stoics.”[11]

 

This last sentence by Augustine is especially interesting, because he contrasts the doctrine of Christianity with the pagan philosophies of Paul’s day: hedonism (the Epicureans) and stoicism (the Stoics). Augustine says that Christianity is “not” to be set beside these philosophies, but instead is “incomparably above them”! What does this say about the modern-day philosophy of “Christian Hedonism”? Does not the philosophy of “Christian Hedonism” set Christianity beside Hedonism (hence the name) and even worse: is it not a mixing of the light with the darkness? Rightly does the apostle Paul ask in 2 Corinthians 6:14: “what fellowship hath light with darkness”? In the Old Testament, the downfall of the nation of Israel was when it began to follow after the pagan religions of the nations around it, not always by completely abandoning their own religion—but by mixing the true with the false! (This is known as religious “syncretism”: the mixing of different religions, philosophies, or ideas.) Indeed, Aaron said of the golden calf which he made, “This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (Exod. 32:4). Did a pagan god bring Israel out of the land of Egypt? No! This was a mixing of the false with the true! Indeed, what does Aaron say? “Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.’” (Exod. 32:5). To who? Not to some unknown or foreign god, but “to the LORD”! To Yahweh God! This was religious syncretism: the mixing of two different belief systems into one. More specifically, it was the idolatry of happiness, the idolatry of self-gratification or pleasure where God was exploited as a means to an end, that end being the pleasure of the worshipper. And it was all done under the guise of “worship” to the true God. Indeed, what do the Scriptures say? “The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings [i.e. Jewish religious sacrifices]. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry” (Exod. 32:6, NLT). This was all part of their worship “to the LORD” (v. 5), not to some foreign or unknown deity! Yet who would deny that this was plain idolatry: we could call it “Jewish Hedonism”! Today we have adapted a similar kind of worship for the church and we call it “Christian Hedonism”. Religious syncretism, particularly religious hedonism, is still a snare for God’s people today. 

 

Piper Is a Hedonist

It’s important to remember that at the end of the day, Piper is a hedonist. Being a Christian hedonist doesn’t mean he’s not a hedonist, it just means that he’s supposedly getting his pleasure not from wrong things or places, but from Christian sources: from God Himself. But that doesn’t erase the fact that Piper is a hedonist. So what about Christian Hedonism? In Christian hedonism (CH), God is exploited as a means to an end: that end being the pleasure of the worshiper, the pleasure of the individual. So who’s the real god in Christian hedonism? What is the highest aim, the highest end, the highest goal? It is one's own personal pleasure!

 

Is it wrong to be happy? No, of course not. But it is wrong to elevate happiness to a higher position than God Himself, which is exactly what CH is doing by relegating God to a cosmic “sugar daddy” who exists to give me what I really want: “My Pleasure!” (so says Piper). In CH, God is simply a means to an end, a way to get what the worshiper really wants as most important: their own personal happiness. Yes, God is thrown into the mix, that's what makes it "Christian hedonism". But God is not the highest motivation, aim, goal, end, pursuit, nor thing. The most important thing is the pleasure of the individual. 

 

So let's be honest and just recognize that Piper is a hedonist. 

 

What is a "hedonist"? A "hedonist" is someone who believes: 

 

• "the ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life." (Oxford Languages)

 

• "The pursuit of one's own pleasure as an end in itself; in ethics, the view that such a pursuit is the proper aim of all action. Since there are different conceptions of pleasure there are correspondingly different varieties of hedonism." (Oxford English Dictionary) 

 

• "living and behaving in ways that mean you have as much pleasure as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself" (Cambridge Dictionary) 

 

• "hedonist: a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification" (Collins Online Dictionary) 

 

That's what Piper believes, if he's a hedonist, which he is. So Piper believes that "[his own] pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of the human life". That's just the definition of hedonism. Anybody going to say that Piper doesn't believe in hedonism anymore? 

 

Christian Hedonism Is a Philosophy

Christian Hedonism is a philosophy, that's what makes it appealing to a lot of people. It's this new thing, and Piper is like one of the gnostic elites who has this deeper knowledge. And so people look up to him and they want that deeper knowledge. For example, in his article "Christian Hedonism: Forgive the Label, Don't Miss the Truth", Piper tells us what the "truth" is that we've all apparently missed for two thousand years thinking that the Bible is all we need! So Piper is here to give us the full understanding apparently, and this is what he says, "Christian Hedonism says...that we should pursue happiness, and pursue it with all our might." Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen! That's the truth according to John Piper, according to Christian Hedonism. But what do the Scriptures say? That's the real question, isn't it? "For what does the Scripture say?" (Rom. 4:3). Now this is interesting, because my Bible doesn't say to pursue my own personal happiness with all might, but rather it says: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). So John Piper, this gnostic elite, says to pursue happiness with all your might. That's the truth according to CH. But the real truth, the truth that we find in the Bible, says something quite different. It's not about pursuing my happiness, but instead what am I instructed to do? What am I to do with all my might? Pursue happiness? No! But rather, "love the LORD your God" with all your might! Notice the difference: Piper's ultimate focus is on himself and pursuing his own happiness with all his might, whereas the Bible instructs us to "love the LORD your God" with all your might! This is the great and the foremost commandment (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:36-40). In other words, Piper has replaced loving God with all his might (the greatest commandment), with pursuing his (Piper's) own personal happiness with all his might! Sadly, Piper's "truth" is nothing more than the idolatry of happiness. Dress that up with a little "psuedo-intellectual babble" (Col. 2:8, Amplified Bible) and slap a fancy label on it ("Christian Hedonism") and now you've got something! Now enrolling gnostic elites! 

 

What Do You Really Want?

Is it wrong to pursue happiness? No, of course not. But CH in effect "puts the cart before the horse" by using God as a means to an end, and that end or goal is the happiness of the worshiper. (In other words, instead of God being the highest goal or aim or most important thing, happiness is put in that place and God is simply the means by which the worshiper gets what he or she really wants, which is their own personal happiness. So CH has it backwards.) By way of contrast, Jesus said that the main thing is love: loving God and loving others, not personal happiness. Personal happiness will follow (see John 13:17), but it's not the goal, it's not the aim, it's not the most important thing, rather, it's a by-product that results from the main thing. Years ago, A. W. Tozer wrote a book titled "The Pursuit of God". Well, to put a title on Christian Hedonism, we could call it: "The Pursuit of Happiness". So, you see the difference? It's a different focus, a different aim. In CH, God is merely the means to an end, and that end is one's own pleasure or happiness. CH basically exploits God for what the worshiper really wants, which is their own personal happiness. CH basically uses God for what the worshiper can get out of Him (what the worshiper really wants), which is their own pleasure, happiness, delight, and satisfaction. Those things are not wrong, but when they usurp the place of God as the main thing, the most important thing, the goal, the aim, then they take the rightful place of God and they become idols set up in the place which is reserved for God alone. And that is idolatry. 

 

"Christian" or "Christian Hedonist"?

The followers of Jesus in the New Testament were simply called "Christians" (Acts 11:26), and they adopted this title because it was an accurate description: they were Christ-ones or Christ-followers, followers of Christ. Remember that hedonism was a pagan (or at least a secular) philosophy at that time, but interestingly the Christians did not call themselves Christian hedonists! This is significant. They simply called themselves "Christians". Why? Because they were follows of Christ, not Christ plus the philosophy of hedonism, but simply followers of Christ: followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is HIM that we pursue with a single focus (regardless of how we feel about it in the moment), it is CHRIST ALONE that we follow! We do not follow Christ plus hedonism, we follow Christ alone. So you see the difference? Anything added to Christ alone as the Highest or most important or main thing is idolatry, not Christ plus, but Christ ALONE: "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything" (Col. 1:17-18, NASB). 

 

A Question Answered
Someone may say, “Well if a Christian is never happy, doesn’t that show they aren’t really saved?” But that’s like saying, “If my son isn’t happy he’s my son then he’s not really my son. He was never born!” Who would ever say such a thing? Only an evil father would say something like that! (And of course, that is the God of Calvinism.) We don’t ever say that about the natural birth, but strangely when it comes to the second birth and being in the family of God, theologians say it all the time! It shows how the wicked God of Calvinism is not the God of the Bible. The Calvinist might respond by saying, “But it’s different because a physical child doesn’t choose their parents, whereas a spiritual son does.” Aha! No Calvinist can consistently say that because they believe that God is hyper-sovereign (in the Calvinistic sense) and that everything happens because God “makes” it happen. God choosing some people for salvation, and others He chooses for damnation. So no, the Calvinist does not believe that a person chooses to enter into God’s family; but rather, they believe that God overcomes the person’s resistance and “makes” them get saved. This is important to point out and keep in mind. But getting back to the objection, just because a person chooses to place his or her faith in Christ and thus in effect chooses to be in God’s family doesn’t necessarily mean that the person will always be “supremely happy” in God. Remember, Christians still have a sin nature and the Christian’s three enemies are still alive and well on planet earth: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The great apostle Paul even said: “The good that I want to do I don’t do, and the evil that I don’t want to do, I do! Oh wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:23-24). It doesn’t sound at all like Paul was supremely happy! In fact, quite the opposite! It sounds like the apostle Paul was supremely unhappy! I’m not going to say that’s the normal Christian experience, but biblically, it is possible. The Bible talks about carnal Christians (see 1 Corinthians 3). The apostle Paul tells the Corinthians: “you are yet carnal” (1 Cor. 3:3). Paul goes on to say that some had even committed the sin unto death, but that they would still be saved in the end and not condemned with the world (see 1 Cor. 11:30-32). Calvinists try to dismiss this and/or downplay this fact because it doesn’t fit into their theological belief system. They are sadly like the Pharisees to whom Jesus said: “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt. 15:9).

 

ENDNOTES:

[1] John Piper, “All the Good That Is Ours in Christ: Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us” (Oct. 8, 2005), Desiring God 2005 National Conference. Note: In contrast to Piper, Norman Geisler writes: “‘What caused Lucifer to sin?’ No one did. He is the cause of his own sin. Sin is a self-caused action, one for which we cannot blame anyone or anything else. Who caused the first sin? [In other words, who ‘brought about’ the first sin?] Lucifer. How did he cause it? By the power of free choice, which God gave him. Thus God made evil possible by creating free creatures; they are responsible for make it actual.” (Geisler, If God, Why Evil? [Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 2011], p. 31.) R. Laird Harris (a Calvinist!) writes the following comments in regards to Proverbs 16:4 that are well worth noting: “This verse has been appealed to in support of an extreme Calvinism. Delitzsch comments that ‘the wickedness of free agents is contemplated in this plan,’ but he does not take the verse in the sense of a predestination to evil, which careful Calvinists do not hold. Calvin himself, according to Delitzsch, asserted that predestination to evil would be a ‘horrible dogma.’ But in the Bible divine sovereignty is taught side by side with free agency. The celebrated verse, ‘I make peace and create evil’ (Isa 45:7), clearly does not mean moral evil, but calamity.” (R. Laird Harris, “Proverbs.” Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison, Editors, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary [Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1962], p. 570.)

[2] T. T. Perowne, The Proverbs (Cambridge: The University Press, 1899), p. 114.

[3] Ibid, emphasis his.

[4] V. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, n.d.), p. 1244, brackets added.

[5] H. C. G. Moule, The Epistle to the Ephesians (Cambridge: The University Press, 1893), p. 52, italics his. Note: Commenting on Ephesians 1:11, Harold Hoehner similarly writes: “The participle energountos is from energeō, which is derived from the adjective energos from which we get our English word ‘energy.’ The verb occurs only seven times in the LXX (four times in the canonical books: Num 8:24; Prov 21:6; 31:12; Isa 41:4) and has the idea of performing or working. In the NT it is used twenty-one times, all of them by Paul except three (Matt 14:2 = Mark 6:14; Jas 5:16). Predominantly, it refers to the working of God’s will in the life of believers. This may include the concept of infusion with supernatural power. It occurs four times in Ephesians (1:11, 20; 2:2; 3:20) and refers to God’s power with the exception of 2:2 where it speaks of the devil’s power which is now working in unbelievers. In the present context tou ta panta energountos [‘of Him who works all things’] is active and transitive with the accusative of the thing referring to God as he takes an active part in all things. The present tense refers to God’s continual activity toward the purpose that he resolved in eternity past.” (Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002], p. 229, bold added.)

[6] John Piper, Coronavirus and Christ (Wheaton: Crossway Publishers, 2020), p. 40, emphasis his.

[7] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, translated by William Pringle (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1854), p. 206, italics his.

[8] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians (London: Pickering & Inglis, 1961), p. 34. Note: Norman Geisler similarly states: “The Bible says God predetermined that Jesus would be the lamb slain before the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Peter said, ‘This Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God’ (Acts 2:23 ESV). But even though the cross was predestined by God, nonetheless, it was freely chosen by Christ: ‘I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord’ (John 10:17-18 ESV). In short, God is the ‘author’ of everything that happens in the indirect and ultimate sense; He is not the immediate cause of evil actions. He neither promotes them nor produces them; He permits them and controls the course of history so that it accomplishes His ultimate purposes. Just as Joseph told his brothers who left him for dead, ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good’ (Genesis 50:20), even so God overrules the evil intent of humans to accomplish His ultimate good.” (Geisler, If God, Why Evil?, p. 24.)

[9] While it is true that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1, NKJV), it is equally true that people can “harden” their hearts (see 2 Chron. 36:13; Psa. 95:8; Dan. 5:20; Zech. 7:12; Matt. 19:7-8; Mk. 6:52, 8:17, 10:4-5, 16:14; Eph. 4:18; Heb. 3:15, etc.), as did Pharoah in the Old Testament. In this case, the “rivers of water” in the hand of the Lord become like ice, hard and immovable. Bruce Demarest (a Calvinst) makes a very insightful comment in regards to this when he writes: “Some allege that the approximately ten references to God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; et al.) support the thesis of unconditional reprobation to damnation. But prior to mentioning the divine hardening, Scripture indicates that Pharaoh freely opposed God’s purposes (Exod 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; et al.; cf. 13:15; 1 Sam 6:6). The Bible does not explain the nature of the hardening, but it appears that God’s role was that of confirming Pharaoh’s decisions rather than predetermining them....The hardening thus represents God’s punishment of Pharaoh for rejecting God’s good purposes.” (Demarest, The Cross and Salvation, p. 135.) Similarly, J. Vernon McGee has well said: “There never will be a person in hell who did not choose to be there, my friend. You are the one who makes your own decision.” (McGee, Romans Chapters 9-16, p. 32.) John Piper takes a different view of all this, in that he believes in the Calvinistic doctrine of “double predestination”, that God both unconditionally elects some people to heaven, and others he unconditionally elects to hell. (For more information concerning Piper’s beliefs on this, I would direct the reader’s attention to his podcast: “Does God Predestinate People to Hell?”, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-predestine-people-to-hell.)

 

[10] Ray C. Stedman, For Such a Time as This (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Publishers, 2010), p. 17.

[11] Augustine, Sermon 150, “On the words of the Acts of the Apostles 17:18-34: But some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began debating with him, etc.” John E. Rotell, editor, translated by Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Part III — Sermons (New Rochell, NY: New City Press, 1992), vol. 5, p. 37.