Mr Howard claims that the diocese refused to ordain him because of his "unwillingness to listen" to other viewpoints. Of course, this is a problem if he is truly unprepared to listen, but it seems an unlikely explanation. And of course, we know what 'listening' means in the modern Anglican lexicon. You are only told that you are not 'listening' if you do not agree with the prevailing wisdom.

According to Nick Howard, the heart of his problems lay with what he felt were unorthodox teachings at Cranmer Hall held by some of the staff. He recalls one ethics tutor saying "publicly that you can be in a gay sexual relationship and follow Christ."

He also said that the college sent him on a course in Bradford entitled 'Ministry in a Multifaith Context' where students were told that they should be "building the kingdom of God with Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus and that we would be bringing people into the mosque, temple or church as a place of worship."

This is an especially shocking area for someone who has converted from another faith. Nick Howard's family are of course, Jews, who worship at a Synagogue in North West London. The only reason for his conversion was a conviction that Christianity is both 'true' and unique and to find Anglicans who deny it makes an utter nonsense of that decision.

According to the Mail on Sunday, "Nick ... quietly reinforced his views by refusing to take Communion at the college's weekly Tuesday evening service. Instead he stayed in his pew, his head bowed in reflection." So, according to Nick Howard, the advice from Cranmer Hall to the Bishop of Oxford was that he shouldn't be ordained. The Mail's judgement on the whole matter: "But many may feel that Nick's defence of the basic tenets of Christianity should be welcomed by the Church. After all, woollymindedness in its beliefs has seen a huge decline in congregations..."

The sad truth is that there is undoubtedly a problem with an ordinand refusing to take communion in a college setting - even if this is by way of a silent protest. Yet, many evangelical clergy would have done the same thing under similar circumstances during their own college days.

The trouble is that unrepresentative and unorthodox views, especially on human sexuality and the uniqueness of Christ, have become mainstream in some circles of the Church of England. Even an evangelical institution like Cranmer Hall undoubtedly has a problem with this 'slippage'. The presence of the widely-respected gay theologian, Michael Vasey, led inevitably to changes in the ethos of Cranmer Hall.

I suspect that if recent evangelical giants of yesteryear like John Stott, Michael Green, and Jim Packer were ordinands or prospective ordinands today they would also be accused of an 'unwillingness to listen'.

---Andrew Carey is a columnist for the Church of England Newspaper