In the 20th century Christian and Jewish supernaturalism has again won a hearing simply because men generally doubt that they can get out of the social mess without God's direct aid. If persecution, pogroms and social disaster provide the rationale for messianism, then our age ought to be the most messianic of all in Israeli history. For Hermann Cohen and other 19th century thinkers' the problem of the personal Messiah was connected with philosophic perplexities concerning the personality of God. Schwartzchild perhaps rightly notes that the depersonalisation process begun in the age of technology infects our ideas of God, the Messiah and even the meaning of man. By returning to the doctrine of a personal Messiah we underline the supreme value of persons .
Concrete individuals are superior to ideas, social forces and historical trends.
Those who find hope in a coming Messiah have been accused of moral quietism. Rabbinic Judaism, however, has always insisted upon man's role in the preparation for the messianic advent . Whether the Messiah comes soon or later depends upon man's actions . Some even went so far as to maintain that he will arrive after men have created the messianic state for him and his work will be to guarantee the maintenance of what ordinary men have established.