At the beginning of his career, Professor Gothóni conducted fieldwork among the Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka. He defended his doctoral dissertation on Theravāda monks in 1982. The unique self-governed monastic state of Mount Athos, with its pilgrimage sites, provided an excellent point of comparison for his interest in monasteries.

René Gothóni has written many academic works and articles about the world of Mount Athos, but also a work of fiction The Unknown Pilgrim. The Soul’s Journey to God ( orig.Tuntematon pyhiinvaeltaja). Professor Gothóni has worked with two widely divergent cultures, the comparison of which has given him a level of expertise in the philosophical basis for hermeneutical scholarship and epistemology more generally, theoretical issues which he discusses in his book Words Matter. Hermeneutics in the Study of Religions. He is currently preparing a study on temptations, based on the Athonite tradition and experience of coping with temptation.