Miroslav Volf, explaining why he chooses to focus more on social agents than social arrangements (would that other theologians/pastors/etc followed his example):
Why am I forgoing a discussion of social arrangements? Put very simply, though I have strong preferences, I have no distinct proposal to make. I am not sure even that theologians qua theologians are the best suited to have one. My point is not that Christian faith has no bearing on social arrangements. It manifestly does. Neither is my point that reflection on social arrangement is unimportant, a view sometimes advocated on the fallacious grounds that social arrangements will take care of themselves if we have the right kind of social agents. Attending to social arrangements is essential. But it is Christian economists, political scientists, social philosophers, etc. in cooperation with theologians, rather than theologians themselves, that ought to address this issue because they are best equipped to do so—an argument Nicholas Wolterstorff has persuasively made in his essay “Public Theology or Christian Learning” (Wolterstorff 1996). When not acting as helpmates of economists, political scientists, social philosophers, etc.—and it is part of their responsibility to act as this way—theologians should concentrate less on social arrangements and more on fostering the kind of social agents capable of envisioning and creating just, truthful, and peaceful societies, and on shaping a cultural climate in which such agents will thrive.
