Based on detailed analysis of interviews with gay clergymen, and also with retired heterosexual clergymen whose ministries span the period since the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, Transcendent Vocation provides specific examples to back up the contention that the approach of the Church of England to homosexuals has increasingly been characterised by hypocrisy. It considers why gay men wish to work within an organisation that treats them with such negativity, especially now that such discrimination is illegal in secular society. The prime conclusion is that they do so because of their "Transcendent Vocation" - a conviction of having been called to the ministry by God that is so strong that it enables them to transcend all the hypocrisy and negativity that they encounter.