Formulating the respective identities of the faithful who are engaged in ordained and non-ordained ministries in the Church poses a serious challenge. How do we describe their mutual relationship, yet allow for their difference? Employing critical textual hermeneutics within the historical, documental, theological and linguistic framework, this book presents a coherent theology of the lay faithful and the ordained with special reference to important magisterial teachings and theological concepts. The first part of the study begins with a detailed examination of the origin and evolution of ministries in the church. The second part elucidates the theology of the lay faithful and the ordained with a critical textual analysis of the Church documents. The third part offers a theological and hermeneutical understanding of the correlation and difference between the two modes of priesthood in terms of important theological and ecclesiological concepts. Employing a philosophical, linguistic, analytical and evaluative methods, the fourth and concluding part looks at the current understanding of ministry, its ambiguities and misinterpretations, and offers a new interpretation of ministry in the Church.
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