BRAGUE, Rémi

Rémi Brague

Prof. Rémi Brague is a French historian of philosophy, specializing in the Arabic, Jewish, and Christian thought of the Middle Ages. He is Professor Emeritus of Medieval and Arabic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and Romano Guardini Chair of Philosophy (Emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is member of the Institut de France (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences) 

Educated primarily at the Sorbonne in Paris, Prof. 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 more than 20 books translated into various languages and hundreds of academic articles on classical and medieval intellectual history, religion, national identity, literature and law. He 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.

Prof. Brague is the recipient of numerous international awards, including honors by both the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Academy of Moral and Political Science. Among them, in 2009 he received both the Josef-Pieper Preis and the Grand Prix de Philosophie de l'Académie Française. In 2011 he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur. In 2012 he was awarded the Ratzinger Prize for Theology and in 2015 the Aquinas Medal. In 2016 he received the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values.

Additionally, Prof. Brague has been a visiting professor at Penn State University, Boston University, Boston College, and many other academic institutions around the country.