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.

In this volume, the research group "Ecumenism in Fundamental Theological Perspective", consisting of members of the Lateran University, Rome, and the Faculty of Protestant Theology, Tübingen, documents its latest work. It does not consider the ordained ministry and ecclesiastical law as isolated topics but within the whole of the church's teaching, explicating the revelation of Christ, the fundamentum fidei. The differences between both denominations concerning the origin, nature and authority of the ordained ministry are based on each one's view of this whole. This directly includes the difference regarding the question of where the authority to decide on the law and order of the church is to be located: either with the episcopate under its Petrine head or with the synods of the regional churches. This breaks new ground: Visible unity does not exist unless this difference is dealt with, which up to now had not been done in ecumenical dialogue.

Inhalt
Eilert Herms: Amt und Ordination nach römisch-katholischer Lehre - Massimo Serretti: Sacramentum Ordinis - Volker Leppin: Das kirchliche Amt bei Martin Luther - Antonio Sabetta: Priestertum und ordinationsgebundenes Amt bei Luther - Protokoll der Diskussion (Eilert Herms) - Eilert Herms: Fundamentaltheologische Aspekte des Kirchenrechts nach römisch-katholischer Lehre - Paolo Gherri: Fundamentaltheologische Aspekte des kanonischen Rechts nach der römisch-katholischen Lehre - Patrick Valdrini: Die dogmatischen Debatten in der katholischen Kirche über die Grundlagen des kanonischen Rechts. Überlegungen eines Kanonisten - Nicola Reali: Das Mysterium der Präsenz des kanonischen Rechts in der evangelischen Kirche, d. h. die Frage nach der Sakramentalität der Kirche - Volker Leppin: Grundlegung des Kirchenrechts in der Reformation - Protokoll der Diskussion (Eilert Herms)