Publisher's Synopsis
The different views on the whole of the church's doctrine explicating the "fundamentum fidei" (the revelation of Christ) are also the basis for the difference regarding the origin, nature and authority of the ordained ministry, including the difference concerning the authority to decide on the law and order of the church, either in the episcopate under its Petrine head or in regional church synods. There is no "visible unity" unless this difference is dealt with, though it has never been a topic of dialogue by now.
