The Bishop of Durham has announced he is to retire at the end of August to take up a university role.

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, a pillar for evangelicals in the Church of England, is to take up a new appointment as research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Bishop Wright, 61, said he still planned to write and speak on the Christian faith after his retirement on August 31.

He admitted that the decision to step down from the office he has held since 2003 was a difficult one.

“This has been the hardest decision of my life,” he said.

“But my continuing vocation to be a writer, teacher and broadcaster for the benefit, I hope, of the wider world and Church, has been increasingly difficult to combine with the complex demands and duties of a diocesan bishop.

“I am very sad about this, but the choice has become increasingly clear.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said Bishop Wright would be “greatly missed”.

He said: “Bishop Tom has given generously of his extraordinary gifts in the life of his diocese and the Church of England at large, and he will be greatly missed by his fellow bishops.

“But we are all delighted that he will have fuller opportunity now to develop the unique ministry of Christian scholarship which has enriched so many minds and hearts across the world.”