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There is the difference, of course, that the direct witness of proclamation – -- whether by preaching the word or administering the sacraments – -- is, in its way, a special case of executive (="deontic or performatory") authority, as distinct from the nonexecutive (="epistemic") authority that properly characterizes the indirect witness of teaching. But presumably both forms of (explicit) witness, direct as well as indirect, are, in their different ways, directed toward achieving understanding, agreement, or consensus and, therefore, are instances or special cases of communicative action. The difference between them is the difference between self-understanding and life-praxis, the counterpart to the first being a special case of executive authority, the counterpart to the second being a special case of nonexecutive authority.

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