From Professor at Large, which was published last month by Cornell University Press.

It must have seemed some kind of risk to request a sermon from a man once so widely accused of blasphemy. When Monty Python’s Life of Brian was released in 1979, it was denounced by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York as “blasphemous,” by the Rabbinical Alliance of America as “blasphemous and sacrilegious,” and by assorted Lutherans, Calvinists, and Episcopalians as “profane.” Indeed, the Roman Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting actually declared it a sin to see the film.

Surprisingly, the Pythons—who could seldom…