George H. Taylor

George Taylor concentrates his research and writing on evaluating the methods by which judges and lawyers interpret statutory and constitutional law. His articles proposing alternatives to current interpretive approaches have been praised by many legal scholars. In his legal scholarship he brings to bear his graduate training in hermeneutics, which studies interpretive methodology more generally. A special interest in his current research is the nature of legal creativity. His courses provide students a broad background in these subjects.

Professor Taylor also studies the role religion plays in contemporary American law and politics, and in some recent work he has applied theological vocabulary to help frame the work of critical race scholar Derrick Bell. Students explore these topics in his Race, Religion, and the Law Seminar, originally co-taught with Professor Bell.

Currently Teaching

• Race, Religion, and Law Seminar (Fall 08)
• Legislation (Spring 09)
• Property (Spring 09)

Courses Previously Taught

• Jurisprudence
• Law and Interpretation Seminar

Selected Publications

Books:

• Paul Ricoeur, Lectures On Imagination George H. Taylor, ed. (in progress).
• George H. Taylor, Law and Creativity, in Philosophy and American Law (Francis J. Mootz, III ed. forthcoming).
• George H. Taylor, Racism as 'the Nation's Crucial Sin:' Theology and Derrick Bell, in The Derrick Bell Reader 433 (Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic eds. 2005).
• George H. Taylor, Editor's Introduction, in Paul Ricoeur, Lectures On Ideology And Utopia (Columbia University Press 1986).

Articles:

• George H. Taylor & Michael J. Madison, Metaphor, Objects, and Commodities. (Symposium: Cyberpersons, Propertization, and Contract in the Information Culture), 54 Cleveland State Law Review 141 (2007).
• George H. Taylor, Derrick Bell's Narratives as Parables, 31 New York University Review of Law and Social Change 225 (2007).
• George H. Taylor, Ricoeur's Philosophy of Imagination, 16 Journal of French Philosophy 93 (2006).
• George H. Taylor, Race, Religion, and Law: The Tension Between Spirit and Its Institutionalization, 6 U. Md. L. J. Race, Religion, Gender and Class 51 (2006).
• George H. Taylor, Can a Theory of Interpretation Make a Difference? 5 Graven Images 15 (2002).
• George H. Taylor, Critical Hermeneutics: The Intertwining of Explanation and Understanding as Exemplified in Legal Analysis, 76 Chicago-Kent Law Review 1101 (2000).
• George H. Taylor, Structural Textualism, 75 Boston University Law Review 321 (1995).

Selected Professional Activities