Educated primarily at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Brague began his career as a student of Greek philosophy, interpreted in a distinctly modern key.

His doctoral thesis, later published as Aristote et la question du monde: Essai sur le contexte cosmologique et anthropologique de l'ontologie (1988), developed a phenomenological account of Aristotle's world conception.

They have been translated into English as The Wisdom of the World: The Human Experience of the Universe in Western Thought (2004), The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea (2007),[5] and The Kingdom of Man: Genesis and Failure of the Modern Project (2018).

"[6] Arguably, Brague's "Roman" view of Western Intellectual History (as enunciated in Eccentric Culture) responds to Strauss's famous emphasis on the longstanding tension between Athens and Jerusalem.

"[8] Brague has received numerous awards, including honors from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Academy of Moral and Political Science.