Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, said a target and business-like approach instilled under the current Archbishop of Canterbury, a former oil executive, was contributing to clergy stress and mental health problems.

He called for an end to 'blue-sky' thinking and warned that 'every step that the church takes down the road of managerialism and organisation is a step away from the public'.

In her resignation letter she blamed, "an ongoing and rapid erosion of faithfulness" and "an agenda of revisionism which "is masked in the language of so-called 'good disagreement,'" for her decision.

Lorna Ashworth is not alone in her concerns and she said that many were calling on the bishops of the Church of England to offer clear and courageous biblical leadership.

Speaking over the weekend, the Bishop used her platform to raise the subject of God's gender, saying: "In the creation narratives, we're told that God created human beings in God's likeness, and then it goes on to talk about male and female. If I am made in the image of God, then God is not to be seen as male. God is God."

Jesus said, "If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." (Mk 3.25).

There are at least two ways of doing theology; one primarily as a rational and intellectual act, and one by discernment of the Spirit.