She is a wonderful writier, isn't she? The point that hit me between the eyes was that there came a point where a choice had to be made--institution or no institution? The writings which pointed people toward discovering and developing the Jesus within them (very poor paraphrase) had to be stamped out because no church could be built on that kind of personal spirituality. For a religion, you need an us against them, a saved and unsaved. So "love God, yourself, and all other people" as a philosophy was just too simple and way too broad to support a religion.
I expect that Ireneaus believed he was protecting God just as the governing body does.
I, too, heartily recommend "Beyond Belief."