FROM Thomas Becket to Latimer and Ridley, the legacy of England's bishops form a rich vein of dissent that courses through the living body of the Church. Men such as these may have feared God, but they certainly did not quake in the presence of kings and emperors, as the bloody pages of history confirm.

Although incurring the displeasure of those in power no longer encourages the drawing of swords or the piling of faggots around a stake, the task of bishop is a perilous one. For the timeless - and sometimes conflicting - demands of office, duty and conscience still exert a pull equal to that of any cathedral bell rope. As the captain of a Christian ship he invariably steers a perilous course - and few have done this more skilfully than Dr Peter Selby, Worcester's retiring bishop.

Dr Selby's radicalism was forged on the anvil of protest. The son of refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, his world view was undoubtedly influenced by the American civil rights movement of the 1960s and the conditions of prisoners in that country's penitentiaries. It is therefore hardly surprising that such concerns would later lead to his growing advocacy of global justice, particularly with regard to the ordination of women priests and matters such as sexual orientation.

We suspect that Dr Selby will have ruffled a few Establishment feathers during his time at Worcester. Yet he never once strayed from his chosen path of righteousness - there was no conversion on this particular road to Damascus. He will be remembered as a man of unshakable principle and integrity, that - like his namesake's rock - was never anything other than firm.