How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church?

The Primacy and Infallibility of the Pope have long stood as roadblocks to fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and other church bodies. Now, however, as many churches strive for greater ecumenical rapprochement and ecclesial unity, scholars from a variety of Christian traditions have been exploring together the possibility that church unity may indeed be well served by the ministry of St. Peter. How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church? assembles twenty-one forward-looking essays on the papal office by an assortment of theologians, canonists, ecumenists, ecclesiologists, sociologists, and Scripture experts from diverse backgrounds, including Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed. They examine the conditions under which the papacy might one day be re-received by Christian church bodies worldwide - not as an autocratic monarchy but, rather, as the unifying agency for a diverse yet cohesive universal church. This book provides a rare glimpse into a high-level discussion that should be appreciated by anyone interested in the future of the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church." Book jacket.