Unlike Iris Murdoch's slightly earlier work proposing Platonic metaphysics as a guide to morals,[6] with which it shares some sympathies, Rist's project has been to show that in order for an ethics to be realist, it must be theistic, that is, grounded in a divine principle that is metaphysically real.
As he explained in a 1997 article, after studying Plato and Plotinus he became convinced that the notion of an intrinsically evil act requires an unchanging standard for morality (cf.
The solution that either Jesus was a lunatic or his earliest followers were all blatant liars again seemed the only alternative possibility if their claims were false....
"[10] By further research into Patristics, and through reading John Henry Newman, he became convinced that the present-day Catholic Church is in continuity with that of the apostles.
Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and Rémi Brague—Rist has turned in his later career increasingly to the relationship of Catholic thought and culture to history and public policy.