Students of Ateneo de Manila University can now be one with the Force through a theology class.

Called “Finding God in the Dark: Cinema and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola”, the class will “examine elements of the Star Wars Universe” including the Force, the metaphysical power that is at the core of the Universe’s spirituality.

The forms of “religion” in Star Wars embodied in the Jedi Code and Sith Code, as well as significant characters such as “the Skywalkers, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine” will also be discussed in relation to the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The class will be taught by Javier Miguel A. Galvez who has an MA in Theological Studies and whose field of specialization is in Systematic Theology from the same university. The course will be available to undergraduate students in the first semester of the academic year 2017 to 2018.

The university’s theology department posted a course trailer featuring droid BB-8:

In the country and around the world, universities have been including pop culture in courses. In De La Salle University, a literature elective under Professor Anne Frances Sangil focusing on Harry Potter has been offered.

In the United States, an entire range of courses from Beyoncé (University of Texas), to “The Simpsons” (University of California, Berkeley), to the “Game of Thrones” (Harvard) have been included in curricula to keep lessons relevant to students. JB