Idealism and Realism in Politics: A Response to Richard J. Bishirjian's "Origins and End of the New World Order" (Comment) (Critical Essay‪)‬

THE OPENING VERSES of Genesis, and thus of the Bible, in a few words pose the contrast between chaos, tohu vabohu, darkness, and the creation of light as a first step to, and a symbol of, an orderly and meaningful world, which would serve as a human abode. As the story continues, and its happy ending--preempting history ere it begins--seems to be assured with Adam and Eve settled in the garden of Eden, the bliss is exploded, and humanity embarks on a long perilous journey. Cain kills his brother Abel, man's penchant for doing evil has no bounds, and "the earth is filled with violence" (Genesis 6:13), and God decides to destroy His creation--except for the righteous Noah and his family and specimens of other creatures, in order to secure a new beginning after the flood. Yet, what evolves after the divine punishment is meted out is a new series of events in which iniquity and chaos seem to dominate, with only a few righteous trying to walk on the right way. The divine guidance directed at the Chosen People produces mixed results: not all of the children of Israel, including their kings, follow the laws of the Lord, despite the admonitions of the prophets. Iniquity and retribution, crime and punishment continue, and are enacted also in the relations among nations, as they fight and destroy each other one generation after another. These events are the substance of history, and history becomes the story of the re-emergence of chaos, of confusion, with "darkness upon the face of the deep" looming in our advanced age as the end of man-made history.