Pattison's works range from historical, theological and philosophical engagement with the critical reception of German Idealism in such figures as Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger and Fyodor Dostoyevsky to theological studies of the aesthetics of film and the visual arts. His latest work has engaged with philosophical notions of ontology, entering into the discussion about whether it is meaningful or helpful to speak of God in terms of "being" subsequent to the re-evaluation of time and language in twentieth century existential phenomenology.