Kalman J. Kaplan, PhD, is professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, A Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Faith Communities Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. He has been awarded in the past both Fulbright International Fellowships and a Start-Up Grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
EDUCATION
1959 Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
1963 B.A. (Mathematics), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
1966 M.A. (Psychology), University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
1968 Ph.D. (Psychology), University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
Kalman J. Kaplan, Ph.D. is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Center for Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Judaism at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist in Illinois and Michigan.
Dr. Kaplan has retired as Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University and held visiting positions at a number of universities, including The University of California, Davis, Harvard University, Boston University, Northwestern University Medical School and Tel Aviv University. He has been Editor of the Journal of Psychology and Judaism and on the Editorial Board of Omega. Dr. Kaplan has published widely in the area of interpersonal and international relations, the emerging field of Biblical Psychology, schizophrenia and suicide/suicide prevention. Dr. Kaplan is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association, was the co-recipient of the 1998 Alexander Gralnick Award for outstanding original research in suicide and schizophrenia, and was a 2006-2007 and 2011-2012 Fulbright Fellow at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Kaplan has published twenty books, many book chapters and close to 100 published articles. He has also given over 150 presentations, both nationally and internationally.
In 2007-2010 Dr. Kaplan was awarded a start-up grant from The John Templeton Foundation to develop an online program in Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Over the last 7 years, his program in Biblical Psychology has enrolled over 200 students from all over the world, including almost 80% opinion leaders. He argues that modern psychology and psychiatry have been implicitly based on classical Greek rather than Biblical narratives and thinking, and suggests that a Biblical psychology would produce a more positive hopeful perspective. Dr. Kaplan is currently a recipient of a Senior Associate Fulbright Fellowship and is developing an Hebrew-subtitled version of this at Tel Aviv University. He is also a member of the ongoing Faith Communities Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.
Among Dr. Kaplan’s books are Living with Schizophrenia (1997), TILT: Teaching Individuals to Live Together (1998), Jewish Approaches to Suicide, Martyrdom and Euthanasia (1998), Right to Die versus Sacredness of Life (2000) , Biblical Stories for Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Sourcebook (2004) , The Seven Habits of the Good Life: How the Biblical Virtues Free Us from the Seven Deadly Sins (2006), The Fruit of Her Hands: A Psychology of Biblical Woman (2007), and A Psychology of Hope: A Biblical Response to Tragedy and Suicide. against Tragedy (2008) , Living Biblically: Ten Guides for Fulfillment and Happiness (2012), In the Beginning: Biblical Sparks for a Happiness (2012), In the Beginning: Biblical Sparks for a Child’s Week (2013) Politics in the Hebrew Bible: God, Man and Government (.2013). Biblical Psychotherapy: Reclaiming Scriptural Narratives for Positive Psychology and Suicide Prevention ( 2017) and Parables and Riddles in Ancient and Modern Teaching (2019) . Dr. Kaplan has also published two original plays: Oedipus in Jerusalem (2015 ) and Oedipus Redeemed (2019) and is working on a third: Oedipus the Teacher.