In this profound meditation on Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza and Vico, Polka reveals the underlying biblical links that unite all four of these important intellectual figures. In the process, Polka manages to shed light on the development of the ideas that have defined modernity, such as God, self, existence, democracy, and wisdom. This makes for an exhilarating read.

Bernard Lightman, York University

In this study, Brayton Polka provides masterful interpretations of Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, and Vico in order to explain the pivotal distinction between the fatalistic violence of paganism and the peaceful ends of the biblical tradition. In the process, he incisively demonstrates the paradox that only secular and democratic adherence to the biblical covenant in our worldly existence can overcome the hierarchical contradictions that paganism associates with the inevitable “way of the world.”

Grant Havers, Trinity Western University