Kalman J. Kaplan, Ph.D. is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Program in Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois 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, Israel. 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 and psychotherapy , schizophrenia and suicide/suicide prevention. Dr. Kaplan is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association, was the co-recipient with Dr. Martin Harrow 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 fourteen 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. 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 subsequently received a Senior Associate Fulbright Fellowship and has developed 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. He subsequently has applied this work to an evidence-based approach to suicide prevention with regard to applying the lessons learned in seven biblical suicide prevention stories to risk factors portrayed in seven matched Graeco-Roman suicide or otherwise self-destuctive narratives (i.e., Elijah against Ajax, Job against Zeno, David against Coriolanus, Jonah against Narcissus, Moses against Oedipus, Rebecca against Phaedra, and Ruth against Antigone) to fourteen clinical patients .

Among Dr. Kaplan’s  books are The Family: Biblical and Psychological Foundations (1984), 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), A Psychology of Hope: A Biblical Response to Tragedy and Suicide (2008), Living Biblically: Ten Guides for Fulfillment and Happiness (2012), In the Beginning: Biblical Sparks for a Child’s Week (2013),  Politics in the Hebrew Bible: God, Man and Government (2013), a two-act play entitled Oedipus in Jerusalem (2015) and a just-published  book: Biblical Psychotherapy: Reclaiming Scriptural  Narratives for Positive Psychology and Suicide Prevention (2017).