ence to the structures of belief and practice that underlie it. Otherwise the great mass of believers may not stay the course of orthodox doctrine. In that connection, when Campbell characterizes Paul as Christianity's first "organization man" (379), he cites Paul's insistence on uniformity in Christian belief: "in turning from Pharisee to Christian, Paul simply transferred his temperament to the other side of the line and [] the Christian Church that he founded thus inherited and carried into Europe the stamp of his Levantine regard for the monolithic consensus" (Campbell 379). Campbell goes on to quote a passage in Galatians (3.28) calling for unity of Jew and Greek, slave and free, "in Christ Jesus," which is echoed in other letters to communities of faith. Col. 3.11 refers to the community of faith as a place "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." In 1 and 2 Timothy, the insistence on consensus has to do with what could be called bureaucratic implications of doctrinal steadfastness.
Why, at 2 Tim. 4.2, Paul should be so concerned that ministers "preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" starts to become clear at 4.3, which anticipates a decline of the consensus that takes shape as a kind of "dumbing-down" or corruption of the faith that he has spent his career explaining in such detail:
For the time will come when the will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2 Tim. 4.3)
Translation: A marketplace of religious ideas could develop and derail the painstakingly elaborated but not widely understood orthodox doctrine. It has to be remembered that the apostolic period was a time of competitive religious thought. Indeed, as a whole, Paul's texts are not merely celebrations and articul...