"Why did the consensus of Christian churches not only accept these astonishing views but establish them as the only true form of Christian doctrine? . . . these religious debates -- questions of the nature of God, or of Christ -- simultaneously bear social and political implications that are crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion. In simplest terms, ideas which bear implications contrary to that development come to be labeled as 'heresy'; ideas which implicitly support it become 'orthodox.'" Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, (New York: Vintage, 1989), pp. xxxvi.