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Oedipus wrecks

Goodbye, Oedipus. Hello, Isaac. That's the basic premise of a new online course being offered through the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

Funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation and titled "A Biblical Approach to Mental Health," the class examines how hope-filled Bible stories can and should substitute for the fatalistic Greek narratives that serve as case studies in traditional psychotherapy. Abraham and Isaac, for instance, would bump Oedipus and Laius.

"The Greek notion of a tragedy is that people can't change," says UIC professor of clinical psychology Kalman J. Kaplan, a Fulbright Fellow and widely published author. He'll co-teach the course with the help of chaplain Elizabeth Recht Jones, coordinator for UIC's Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health program. "So if you're using stories that imply people can't change, what's the point of doing therapy?"
Abraham, not Oedipus Rex

As mythology buffs and fans of the Doors might recall, Laius' son Oedipus is pre-destined to kill his pop and bed his mom in the strife-rife Greek tale -- so Laius tries to have his boy offed before that happens.

In the Old Testament story, Abraham's nearly sacrificed son Isaac is divinely spared slaughter by Dad's knife and becomes his father's blessed disciple. Instead of discord, there's harmony. Instead of despair, there's joy.

The Western world "has it all reversed," Kaplan says. "They look at the Bible as being an enslaving doctrine. That's not the way we see it at all. It gives people free will. In the Greek world, people are fated. You can't possibly get over any dysfunction."
Next class in September

Dr. Joseph Flaherty, dean of UIC's College of Medicine and a professor of psychiatry, says the new program is reflective of American values and priorities.

"[F]or most people in America, particularly more than other Western countries, religion is very important to them, and they have beliefs in God," he says. "And as a medical school with a very diverse student body and patient body, we have to recognize that."

Not everyone is so supportive. In the mid-'90s, Kaplan grew frustrated at what he said was Wayne State University's failure to recognize the validity of his work in this field. Though a tenured professor at Wayne, he sued the Michigan school. The suit was later dismissed.

"If I'd been an assistant professor, they would have fired me for this stuff," Kaplan says, "and this was the best work I had ever done."

Now, after years of fighting for professional props, the pioneering prof is finally starting to feel some love.

As for the public appeal of his concept, Kaplan thinks there's a natural fit.

"People like stories," he says, "so why shouldn't they like biblical stories?"

The first of three scheduled 12-week sessions began last Monday. The next one starts in September. It costs $1,000.