 Taylor began teaching at Williams College in 1973, attained Preston S. Parish Third Century Professor of Humanities in the mid-1980s, and at the time of his departure in 2007 was Cluett Professor of Humanities.He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard University, Smith College, University of North Carolina, and University of Sydney.After being a visiting professor of religion and architecture at Columbia University, he joined the faculty there full-time in 2007 as chair of the religion department.