Human Identity
3.7 The Self, Self-Presentation, Impression Management and Embodied Practice
and underdevelopment orchestrated by the proliferation of weapons of war in the Nigerian society.
The LXX translated
tyrIåx]a;
as “evsca,taij”, meaning, “last”.Authors like Levin and Shapira (2012) held that the interpretation offered by the LXX is out of tune with the term used by the Masoretic Text (MT). These authors opine that
“the original prophecy of Isa 2:1-5 (and its parallel Micah 4:1-5) actually referred to a historical time of peace that would occur in a natural future.” According to them, “it was the later generation, faced with the fact that the prophecy had not yet come to be, who projected its fulfilment into an eschatological future, a utopia that would come to be at the end of history” (p.274).
Isa 2:1-5 envisions a time in an undetermined future when the nations of the world (
~yI)AGh;-lK'
) will reject war (hm'x'l.mi
) and violence (sm'x'
) and embrace peace (~Alv'
). In a world with an alarming cache of weapons among nations, with increasing efforts at the development and testing of new weapons, and an increasing threat of war, the dream of a global peace as Isaiah painted it seems to be an idealistic hope. When a text such as Isaiah 2:1-5 is interpreted, many may quickly deem such an ideation of international harmony as utopian or idyllic (Eisen, 2011) and unrealizable in this life. Such a position is no more than subscribing to pessimism. The fact that true peace is an eschatological dream, however, does not mean that it is not a value humans must strive for in the here-and-now.The absence of a wholesome peace in the world today expresses itself in the threat of terrorism in some parts of the world, in the ever growing use of hateful and divisive ideologies among peoples, and among political and religious leaders. These facts engender violence and conflicts (Reardon, 1993). The reality of terrorism in some
regions of the world, including the North East of Nigeria, breed fear, and make even
“peaceful” days seem ominous and “secure” places unsafe.
Violence and warfare have characterized the human history, especially since the middle of the twentieth century. With two world wars (1914-18 and 1939-45) behind us, the Korean war (1950-53), the Vietnam war (1955-75), the Biafra-Nigeria War (1967-70), Rwanda pogrom (1959-61), the Gulf War (1990-91), the war in Afghanistan (2001-2014), war with Iraq (2003-11), the menace of ISIS in some parts of the world (1999 till date), the intervention by the USA and her allies against ISIS (2014 till date), the menace of AL Shabab in Somalia (2006 till date), Boko Haram in Nigeria (2002 till date), the tension in the Korean Peninsula which become frightful since 2017 (except for the peace accord signed by the United States President, Donald Trump, and the North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un, on June 12, 2018), etc, the possibility of a world at peace as Isa 2:4 dreams it seems difficult to imagine. According to Kari (2014), the current hostilities, wars and threats of war make peace seem like a very distant goal to achieve. Burton (1962) aptly captures this point thus:
The world order could not sensibly rest on structures which merely reduced the frequency of war. If civilization were to survive with any degree of certainty, war had to be eliminated. Nor could a world order rest on preparedness for war, because the dilemma inherent in this policy could no longer be resolved in favour of war without the possibility of the total destruction of all parties concerned. (pp.27-28).
A number of factors have been identified as causes of wars and violence in our world.
These include advance in technology, the availability of more destructive weaponry, ethnic conflicts, economic crises in different parts of the world, the appearance of megalomaniac dictators, and extreme ideologies (Winnail, 2007).
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed his message of peace in a context when Judah was faced with invasion from the Assyrian forces, under the Assyrian monarch, Sennacherib (701 B.C.). Even from within a land scorched by violence, wars and the threats of war, Isaiah imagined a world at peace. Isaiah envisioned the whole world on a pilgrimage toward God, the sacred center of life and the source of peace (Hartshorn, 2009). The prophet gives the peoples of the world the inspiration and motivation to turn the dream of peace into reality.
In many parts of the world, armed conflicts have become an unquestioned part of reality; war and conflicts have become an ever-present possibility in many regions of our world. Wars and conflicts are being realistically prepared for through arms procurements and alliances (Reynolds, 2017). Isaiah’s oracle of peace indeed sounds good in such a scenario. The critical point is whether Isaiah’s vision of the future characterized by
~Alv'
can be integrated with the events of ordinary life or whether Isaiah’s vision of peace requires a more or less complete break with the ordinary history (Oswalt, 1981).When a text such as Isaiah 2:1-5 is interpreted, there can be an accompanying reflex response that passes off such a text as utopian and unrealizable. A utopia is an imaginary ideal society free of chaos, poverty and suffering. In the light of this
definition, it would not be correct to interpret Isaiah’s oracle of peace as utopian since it is a prophetic oracle given at the prompting of the Spirit of God (
~yhiÞl{a/
x:Wrï
). To judge Isa 2:1-5 as utopian should be regarded as premature as many imaginings once deemed utopian or idealistic at best, have come to fruition over time.This notwithstanding, it is easy to understand Isaiah’s oracle of peace cerebrally but not so easy to implement it. It is not easy for nations to trust the intentions of other nations, especially if they are perceived as a threat. Fear can motivate the building of security structures; fear of being overrun by another nation equally can be the reason for aggressive activities against any perceived danger from another nation (Howard, 1992).
This fact, notwithstanding, the message of peace proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah still remains vitally imperative for today (Wolff, 1985).
Isaiah’s vision of world peace, though sounds utopian, is not unrelated to life.
Even though the peace which Isaiah proclaims in 2:1-5 is eschatological in character, Isaiah’s message of peace touches the contemporary situation. It is true, as Scott and Kilpatrick (1956) said that the vision has not been literally fulfilled, but that does not dispose of its claim on the minds of humans. We cannot fail to acknowledge that the faith uttered in this Isaianic prophecy is indispensable for the hope of the world.
Furthermore Scott and Kilpatrick said:
We have in each generation the strange, tragic spectacle of men endowed with genius, yet wholly unable to learn the art of living together in peace. Even with bitter experience of the horrors of war, every proposal for peace is basically related to the use of brute force. Man’s ingenuity displayed in the invention and
production of the weapons of war seems to portray humans as a people apparently bent on self-annihilation. Without [the] inspiration [offered by this Isaianic call for global peace] and its power to sustain our search for peace, we are condemned to the dreadful prospect of wars succeeding wars until the human race destroys itself. (p.181).
We need not dismiss Isaiah’s vision of peace as utopian else we close our minds to opportunities and possibilities of change (Breed, 2014). We may not negate the fact that a totally arms-free world will not be easy to attain. The increasing number of nations today pursuing various military schemes and seeking to develop nuclear weaponry underlines this fact. It is equally difficult to find the idea of a universal spiritual peace at any epoch in our world. It is difficult to imagine the nations practically converting weapons of destruction into tools of peace the way Isaiah envisioned it. But it is possible for the nations of the world to work for more peace in the world. This will entail curtailing the production and flow of weapons in the world, remedying all that trigger conflicts and eschewing divisive politics.
In a world so full of hateful and divisive ideologies, a world where nations pursue dreadful and dangerous military bellicose schemes, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the prospects for a stable peace are, at least, uncertain, and at worst, illusory.
Isaiah’s vision of global peace and total disarmament may sound utopian. Utopian thinking, however, has some importance. “The advantage of a utopia,” writes Westow (1969), “in the growing self-awareness of mankind lies in its evocative character and the
stimulus with which it encourages man to work for the future” (p.159). It can inspire us to work for what is achievable.
It is important here to make a distinction between eschatological hope and utopian thinking. Bonino (1989) writes that “utopias are human creations, built by the exercise of creative reason, which extrapolates from and negates existing reality” (p.48). Bonino notes, however, that human utopias also have a positive function, just as eschatological hope can spur humans to strive for the thing hoped for.
Historically, biblical eschatological hope incorporates human utopias as bearers of transcendent hope. Tamayo-Acosta (2001) writes that “the messianic utopia of a world at peace” in which the nations, having been taught the way of peace at Zion, “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” as an emblem of peace and end of war (Isa 2:4), or the utopia of “the wolf” living harmoniously with “the lamb” and the leopard lying down with the kid, the calf with the lion, and the child playing safely with snakes (Isa 11:6-8) – all these display the values of non-violence, fraternity among humans, and fellowship between humans and animals. Such a prophetic eschatology inspires hope for the future and motivates humans living in the present epoch, characterized by conflicts and violence, to work to the attainment of a wholesome peace. Tamayo-Acosta further writes that “the prophets’ horizon is the future – even if they do not succeed in making the distinction between historical future and metaphysical-historical future. Their basic attitude to it is one of active hope….”
(p.67).
Isaiah’s call for peace can motivate us to strive to make the world a more peaceful and secure place for all peoples. In a world today fear, conflict, and insecurity are
pervasive, yet humans yearn for a world of harmony, cooperation, and trust. The irony is that the nations of the world preach peace, yet pursue bellicose schemes, and more powerful nations sometimes wield military power to dominate other nations.
There is a discernible gap between the realities in the world and the dreams of humans of cooperative harmony. There is a gap between theories and practice of peace among nations. This gap, according to Westbrook and Cohen (2008) is what makes international politics “a realm of tragedy”. Notwithstanding this gap between theory and practice in international politics, many individuals and co-operate bodies have given voice to humanity’s deep-seated longing for peace, harmony, and cooperation. In the modern times, particularly in the twentieth century, there have been a number of attempts to curb the arms race, since after the Second World War. According to Westbrook and Cohen (2008),
None of these schemes for perpetual peace and international cooperation, however, can rival the poetic power and breathtaking scope of Isaiah’s vision of a world in which, “in days to come,” nations and peoples shall “beat their swords into plowshares” and then “spears into pruning hooks” .... Its poetic imagery is so powerful and effective because “it is so totally out of harmony with the reality of our world, yet fully in harmony with what we would like the world to be. (p.212).
Isaiah describes a peaceful and violence-free world. Even though such an irenic world seems unrealizable humanly speaking, Isaiah’s vision can and does inspire changes to the lives of actual people living in time and space. Isaiah stresses that God,
himself, through the agency of his torah (
hw"ßhy>-hr"êAt
) and word (hw"ßhy>-rb;d
>) will transform the world and guide the nations( ~yI)AGh;-lK'
) to seek the way of peace. The prophet encourages us to believe that peace can reign in the world in spite of the prevalence of conflicts and violence in various quarters. If humans lay aside all that engender war and conflict, the world will experience, to a great measure, the fulsome peace proclaimed by Isaiah (Bibb, 2014).The fact that true and unmitigated peace is an eschatological dream, however, does not mean that sustainable peace is not a value humans must strive for in the here-and-now. In 2:1-5, Isaiah paints an image of a peaceable world devoid of violence.
Isaiah’s prediction that one day the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that one nation will not take up its sword against another nation, and that they will cease to learn to make war, is often taken as an imperative injunction for how God’s people ought to act right now.
Isaiah’s hope-filled oracle offers humans a prospect of peace in a world full of violence and threats of war (Gornik, 2002). Isaiah’s prophetic words are expressive of humanity’s deepest yearnings for a peaceful world. Isaiah’s vision of peace may not have been fully realized yet, but his message confronts every nation in the contemporary time. Though Isaiah’s vision of peace is projected to the future, it has the power to shape the society in which we live.