Magliola is a specialist in European hermeneutics and deconstruction, in comparative philosophy, and in Buddhist – (Roman) Catholic dialogue. He was the first scholar to have identified and published at length (Derrida on the Mend, 1984Purdue University Press, 1984; 2nd ed., 1986; reprint Purdue University Press, 2000-2011, 2013- .) on possible intersections between Jacques Derrida's thought and Buddhism, especially Madhyamika Buddhism and its generally accepted "founder," Nagarjuna:
