THE Right Reverend Dr David Jenkins, former Bishop of Durham, was a chaplain and fellow at The Queen's College in Oxford.

He died aged 91 after living with Alzheimer's disease for many years in Barnard Castle, County Durham, on Sunday morning.

Nicknamed the 'unbelieving bishop' for his controversial views, he had also been a theologian at Leeds University.

But Canon Angela Tilby, of Christ Church, Oxford, said he was "far from being an unbeliever".

She told BBC Radio 4: "I got to know him in 1989 when I made a film about him. I found him quite a shy man, who'd found his true self as a theologian and teacher.

"There was nothing he loved more than an argument, it brought him to life. So he tended to treat people as though they were Oxford undergraduates, expecting them to give as good as they got.

"My film portrayed him, truthfully I think, as a provocative but entirely faithful Christian.

"What David Jenkins recognised was we sometimes need to be shocked out of habit and complacency to find out what we truly believe."

David Edward Jenkins was born to Welsh parents Lionel and Dora on January 26, 1925.

He was brought up in Bromley, Kent and educated at St Dunstan’s college, Catford. After leaving school during the Second World War, he served for three years with the Royal Artillery and rose to the rank of captain.

Aged 22, he came up to The Queen's College, Oxford, to read theology in 1947 and graduated in 1951.

He was ordained in 1952, before returning to Queen’s in 1954 to succeed Dennis Nineham as fellow, chaplain, and praelector in theology.

Dr Jenkins stayed there for 15 years, delivering Oxford University's Bampton lectures in 1966 to wide critical acclaim.

A statement from the college said he was "widely remembered for his pastoral sensitivity and provocative teaching".

It was these qualities that later came to be valued by the clerics and people of Durham.

He became their bishop from 1984, after spells at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, the William Temple Foundation in Manchester and Leeds University.

While in post he made no secret of his disapproval of Margaret Thatcher's policies and drew attention to the plight of communities affected by the closure of coal mines.

His appointment had initially proved controversial, after he said during the television interview that he did not believe in the virgin birth and claimed the resurrection of Jesus was not a single event, but he grew to be widely-liked.

In 1949 he married Mollie Peet and the couple had two sons and two daughters.

Dr Jenkins died on September 4. He is survived by his children.