Concomitantly he specializes in Asian language studies and linguistics, and in the history of Central Eurasia.

He teaches Old Tibetan, Central Eurasian languages, and Central Eurasian history and researches the linguistics of Aramaic, Chinese, Japanese, Koguryo, Old Tibetan, Tokharian, Old Turkic, Uzbek, and other languages.

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.