:::First of all, not every fool agrees that there has been "continuity" but those who disagree are a minority (i.e. those who believe that the Roman church was invented in the 3rd or 4th century and is discontinuous from early Christianity).   
 :::I think Xandar is saying that some historians buy the entire "traditional narrative" (and I expect both Nancy and Xandar do).  He acknowledges that other historians question various parts of the traditional narrative and some even reject it altogether.  What he seems to want is to assert that there are a non-trivial number of historians who accept the traditional narrative and that those who reject it not be portrayed as the overwhelming majority the way some other editors wish to. 
 :::