His best-known works includeGreek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia andEmpires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present.Greek Buddha examines links between veryearly Buddhism and the philosophy ofPyrrho, an ancient Greek philosopher who accompaniedAlexander the Great on hisIndian campaign. The book is noted for its challenging and iconoclastic approach to multiple issues in the development of earlyBuddhism,Pyrrhonism,Daoism,Jainism and theŚramaṇa 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 concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such asJohannes Bronkhorst,[6]Osmund Bopearachchi,[7]Stephen Batchelor[8] and Charles Goodman.[9] According toPatrick Olivelle, Beckwith's theory aboutAshoka is "an outlier and no mainstream Ashokan scholar would subscribe to that view."[10]
^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. Retrieved21 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). "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.
