His best-known works include Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia and Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present.Greek Buddha examines links between very
early Buddhism and the philosophy of
Pyrrho, an ancient Greek philosopher who accompanied
Alexander the Great on his
Indian campaign. The book is noted for its challenging and iconoclastic approach to multiple issues in the development of early
Buddhism,
Pyrrhonism,
Daoism,
Jainism and the
Śramaṇa movement.[4]Empires of the Silk Road is a rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of Central Eurasia.[5] Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations have been criticized by other scholars, such as
Johannes Bronkhorst[6]Osmund Bopearachchi[7]Stephen Batchelor[8] and Charles Goodman.[9]
^Bronkhorst, Johannes (21 March 2016). "How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas".
How the Brahmins Won. Brill. pp. 483–489.
ISBN978-90-04-31551-8. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
^Stephen Batchelor "Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's encounter with early Buddhism in central Asia", Contemporary Buddhism, 2016, pp 195-215
^Charles Goodman, "Neither Scythian nor Greek: A Response to Beckwith's Greek Buddha and Kuzminski's "Early Buddhism Reconsidered"", Philosophy East and West, University of Hawai'i Press Volume 68, Number 3, July 2018 pp. 984-1006
^Golden, Peter B. (1990). "Reviewed Work: The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages by Christopher I. Beckwith". Journal of World History. 1 (2): 264–268.
JSTOR20078473.