Rt Rev Dr Stephen Sykes

Right Revd Dr Stephen Sykes, who has died after a long illness aged 75, was one of the foremost scholars of Anglicanism with an international reputation. When he was ordained in 1965, those who knew him wondered whether he would become a professor of theology or a bishop.

In fact he became both and was the professor of divinity in Cambridge and in Durham and Bishop of Ely.

He was also someone of acute pastoral sensitivity.

Stephen Sykes was educated at Monkton Combe School, an independent boys school in Bath. In 1958 he entered St John's College in Cambridge to study theology and graduated with first class honours in 1961.

He then trained for ordination at Ripon Hall in Oxford. In 1964 he was awarded a fellowship at Winthrop House, part of Harvard University, and when he returned to England he became dean of chapel at his old college, St John's

For ten years, as well as his responsibility for chapel services, he supervised the studies of theology students and for several years lectured in Cambridge University's School of Divinity.

A former student of Dr Sykes's in Cambridge, Dr Kevin Lewis, now teaches at the University of South Carolina. He spoke for so many who were taught by him when he described him as gracious and inspiring and a major positive influence on his life.

The range of his college teaching was considerable, from early church history to the modern Church of England, from systematic theology to the New Testament. At a time of growing specialisation in theology, he succeeded in gaining a reputation across a wide range of disciplines. He was also a wry student of the sort of college politics which were the subject of novels by CP Snow, once remarking to a friend who met him coming out of a Fellows' meeting: "I think I have just heard the speech for the next mastership but two."

In 1974 he moved to Durham to be the university's Van Mildert Professor of Divinity, and a canon of Durham Cathedral. In 1985 he returned to Cambridge as the Regius Professor of Divinity, and after five years he became Bishop of Ely.

A spokesman for the diocese said Bishop Stephen was enormously proud of the diocese he had loved since coming to Cambridge as an undergraduate in the late 1950s. From 1996 until 1999 he was a member of the House of Lords. For most of the 1990s he was also a member of the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England and its chairman for three years. The University of Cambridge awarded him an honorary doctorate in divinity.

In 1999, he returned to Durham as principal of St John's College, which prepares students for degrees from Durham University and also includes Cranmer Hall, a theological college.

He retired in 2006. Shortly afterwards, the symptoms of a debilitating condition which eventually confined him to a wheelchair appeared. He received great support from his family, the community of St John's College and the chapter of Durham Cathedral.

He is survived by his wife Joy and their children Juliet, Joanna and Richard.