A teacher in the US has hit the headlines after assigning his students with a book to read - titled 'The Baby Jesus Butt Plug'.
California University professor Jordan Smith said his students selected the book in a "class vote" and it provided his class with great "academic value", The Blaze reports.
SEE ALSO: High School 'Segregates' Students At Lunch According To Grades
School Makes Students Sign 'Anti-Twerking' Contract Before Their Prom
The book, written by Carlton Mellick III, imagines a "dark and absurd world" where "baby jesus is a very popular anal probe," Amazon.com summarises.
"[T]he conversation we had about the story was extremely productive, and brought us to analyse social constructions of definitions of 'normalcy' and the 'natural' and to explore psychological readings of the text in terms of sexual prohibitions, Christianity in American culture, comparative religious studies and much more," he said.
"Undergraduate education is about finding your voice and clarifying your values, and allowing the students to vote on whether they would rather tackle a difficulty, potentially-offensive text in a literature course is certainly one of the ways to facilitate that," the professor added.
The book, which has been described as "trashy and dark"
One student website, The College Fix, said the book ranked as "one of the most offensive reading assignments we've ever come across".