Rémi Brague

Biography

Educated primarily at the Sorbonne in Paris, Brague began his career as a student of Greek philosophy, developing a phenomenological account of Aristotle's conception of the world. From there, he was led to study Hebrew, in order to read the Old Testament. Finally, he turned to a study of Arabic in order "to read the Jewish philosopher Maimonides' The Guide for the Perplexed in its original language." Accordingly, most of his work has taken place at the intersection of the three Abrahamic religions, as they developed out of the ancient world, formed themselves in dialogue with one another, and eventually gave rise to modernity. He is the author of numerous books on classical and medieval intellectual history, religion, national identity, literature and law, and is perhaps best known in the English-speaking world for his books Eccentric Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization and Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea.

While his intellectual influences are various, Brague has developed some of the chief points of his unique account of Western intellectual history in dialogue with the controversial political theorist Leo Strauss: Brague has said that "Leo Strauss taught me that when reading a text, you must be open to the possibility that it contains different layers of meaning. All philosophical books written before the Enlightenment aim at both a wider audience and a small elite, able to understand the deeper meaning of the texts." This approach informed Brague's understanding of Maimonides and the medieval Muslim philosopher Alfarabi, among others, but he declared himself unconvinced "that it applies to the Greek philosophers" in the way Strauss has taught. "But Strauss became so convinced of his own way of interpreting texts, that he came to apply it to all sorts of books, even Cervantes' Don Quixote. Strauss taught me to read very carefully. But I don't consider myself a Straussian, nor do the real Straussians consider me as one of them." Arguably, Brague's "Roman" view of Western Intellectual History (as enunciated in Eccentric Culture) forms a kind of response to Strauss' famous emphasis on the centuries-long tension between Athens and Jerusalem: for Brague, we cannot understand this tension correctly without understanding the historic mediation of both Athens and Jerusalem through Rome. Likewise, Brague's account of Divine Law in the Western intellectual tradition (as presented in The Law of God) reframes the relationship between faith and reason, the secular and the sacred, in response to Strauss' recurrent emphasis on "the Theological-Political Problem."

Brague is the recipient of numerous awards, including honors by both the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Academy of Moral and Political Science. In 2009, he received both the Josef-Pieper Preis and the Grand prix de philosophie de l'Académie Française, and on Saturday, 28 September 2012, it was announced that Brague, along with Brian E. Daley, would be awarded the 2012 Ratzinger Prize for Theology (cf. Ratzinger Foundation). In 2013, he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur. Additionally, Brague has been a visiting professor at Boston College, Boston University, Penn State University, and many other institutions around the world.

Works

Books and Edited Volumes in French (and other languages):

Books in English Translation:

Articles in English: