Faculty/Staff Directory
Dr. George Lawrence (Larry) Israel
478.471.2400
Professor
Credentials: Ph.D.
| Office Hours: | Spring 2025 - 8:30-12:30 Monday and Wednesdays |
| Locations: (Campus & Office) |
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| Website: | http://georgelisrael.com |
| Biography: | George L. Israel, Ph.D. (2008), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is Professor of History at Middle Georgia State University. He has published a monograph and articles on China, including Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming (Brill, 2014). He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and completed high school at Parkway Central. His B.A. in philosophy and biology was completed at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. |
| Syllabi: | |
| Teaching and Research Interests: | I teach world and US history in the core for all undergraduate students, and upper-division courses in East Asian history. My primary research interest is the intellectual history of the Ming dynasty .My teaching encompasses a schedule of four courses per semester, including dual enrollment classes, online classes, and classroom classes. I've developed methods for making history accessible to and of interest to students so that they voluntarily taking an interest and are therefore willing to engage in their own in-depth reading and writing. My main goal is to make the chronologies and themes pertaining to the histories of diverse cultures, states, and societies understandable to students. My research centers on classical Chinese philosophy, particularly the Neo-Confucian tradition and Ming dynasty intellectual history. My major scholarly project is the translation of Wang Yangming's Record of Instructions for Practice for Brill/deGruyter. It is a rigorous work of philosophical translation that requires precision in rendering classical Chinese concepts into English while maintaining both scholarly accuracy and accessibility. It should be published this year, 2025. |
| Courses: | World History US History Perspectives courses Pre-Modern and Modern Japan Traditional and Modern China Religions in World History Colonialism in World History |
| Education: (All institutions attended and degrees or credentials earned) | B.A., Biology and Philosophy, William Jewell College, 1988 Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. October 2008. |
| CV: | EDUCATION • Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. October 2008. TEACHING • Professor of History, Middle Georgia State University, present-2020. • Associate Professor of History, Middle Georgia State University, 2020-2015. • Assistant Professor of History, Middle George State College. 2015-2008. -Archivist, University Archives, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2002-2007. |
| Publications and Scholarships: (Last 5 Years) | Monographs • Studying Wang Yangming: History of a Sinological Field. Kindle Publishing, 2025. • 陽明學之歐美傳播與研究 (The Dissemination of and Research on the School of Wang Yangming in Europe and the United States). Beijing: Xueyuan Chubanshe, 2022. • World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500. Dahlonega: University of North Georgia Press, 2016. Cowritten with Eugene Berger, Andrew Reeves, Charlotte Miller, Nadedja Williams, and Brian Parkinson. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/history-textbooks/2/ • Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming. Leiden: Brill, 2014. http://www.brill.com/products/book/doing-good-and-ridding-evil-ming-china-political-career-wang-yangming Selected Articles and Book Chapters • “Returning to the Root: The Formative Political Career and Intellectual Development of Nie Bao, 1487-1548.” World of the Orient no. 1 (2024): 145-172. https://oriental-world.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/711 • “Zhan Ruoshui zai Xiqiao shan (1517-1521): Sui chu tiren tianli [Zhan Ruoshui at Mt. Xiqiao, 1517-1521: ‘Wherever you are, witness Heaven’s reason’.”]. Ming shi yanjiu luncong [Essays on Research in Ming History]. Forthcoming, 2020. • “Zhan Ruoshui at his Dake Academy on Mt. Xiqiao, 1517-1521: Scholarship, Pedagogy, Philosophy.” Journal of World Philosophies 4, no. 1 (2019): 36-54. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/article/view/2642 • “Discovering Wang Yangming: Research in Europe and North America, 1600-1950.” Monumenta Serica 66, no. 2 (Dec. 2018): 357-389. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02549948.2018.1534356 • “Oumei Wang Yangming janjiu, 1900-1950 [Research on Wang Yangming in Europe and North America, 1600-1900],” Hanxue yanjiu [Journal of Sinology] vol. 25 (Fall and Winter, 2018). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/750775586X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (see image of Table of Contents) • “The Transformation of the Wang Yangming Scholarship in the West, ca. 1960-1980.” Asian Philosophy 28, no. 2 (Apr. 2018): 135-156. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09552367.2018.1462584 • “Lu Xiangshang, Wang Yangming, and the Early Heart-Mind Learning,” In Chinese Philosophy and Its Thinkers, Volume II. Edited by Dawid Rogacz and Selusi Ambrogio. Bloomsbury, 2024. - Wang Yangming in Chuzhou and Nanjing: ‘I have only two words to say: Be Truthful!’.” In Ming World. Edited by Kenneth Swope. Routledge, 2019. |
| Professional Affiliations: | Ming History Society |
| Awards and Honors: | Excellence in Scholarship Faculty Award, 2020 |
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