a unity in faith, in the same sacraments and the same
apostolically founded episcopal ministry" is not given.
Rememory, in other words, is not just a matter of deliberate cultural preservation, available to anyone who participates in common traditions or shares memories; it functions, rather like transubstantiation in Roman Catholic theology, as a literal embodiment of the past, a "representing" experienced by those who are biologically (and therefore, as it were,
apostolically) legitimate.
(32) Whitman advocates a break from all ecclesiastic, monarchic, and intellectual figures of authority, but it is qualified by the fact that the past must first be "conn'd" or "studied." The structure of the passage reinforces this concept: the reader must progress through eleven lines that acknowledge the importance of the past before reaching the turn where it is resolutely "dismissed." When used by Jupp, the "language-shapers on other shores" include Whitman himself: here and elsewhere in Seed-Time he is not followed
apostolically but is treated instead as a philosopher of democracy.
These two images--holding the city together, and judging the Twelve Tribes--are important for us now as we consider ways in which each church
apostolically relates to the cultures in which it is set.
A treatment of this sort would try to explain how the church's belief in apostolic continuity can be reconciled with the gaps in the historical record for so many of the beliefs and practices claimed as
apostolically continuous.