A row has erupted within the Church of England as senior Anglicans are calling on the Archbishop of Canterbury to force his ambassador to the Vatican to resign because he does not believe Jesus rose from the dead.

It has emerged that Dr John Shepherd, an Australian cleric appointed last week as the new representative to Rome, had delivered a sermon in which he said Christians should be “set free” from the traditional view of the resurrection.

The controversial comments, delivered while he was Dean of Perth Cathedral, have been criticised for flying in the face of the most fundamental Christian doctrines.

In a 2008 Easter sermon, he said: “It’s important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the resurrection was an extraordinary physical event, which restored to life Jesus’s original earthly body. The resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality.”

He added how the disciples merely “felt his presence after his death” and the Gospel accounts in the Bible were not “historical records as we would write history today”.

Senior Anglicans have rounded on his unorthodox views claiming they are inappropriate for someone who, as interim director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, will act as the de facto ambassador for Justin Welby, the Church of England, and other Anglican churches around the world. He will be central to discussions and meetings with Pope Francis.