Science, Magic, and Religion Theme Analysis

In the course of his education and traveling, Paul Farmer comes into contact with a large number of belief systems: religious traditions, scientific theories, and magical rituals (such as the Voodoo ceremonies in Haiti). While these belief systems seem entirely distinct, they’re all major influences on Farmer’s career. Moreover, Tracy Kidder uses his book to explore the close similarities between them.

In Farmer’s life, religion and science are virtually inseparable. From an early age, he was educated in the tenets of Catholicism. While he never seriously embraced the concept of a divinity or an afterlife, Farmer did celebrate the usefulness of religion. By celebrating Catholicism—specifically, “liberation theology”—Farmer gave himself a career path. Liberation theology stresses the importance of solving the concrete, material problems on Earth, rather than waiting for God to remedy these problems in Heaven. Farmer embraces this idea in his medical practice, where solving patients’ immediate problems is his key—indeed, his only—guideline. In effect, there would be no purpose in Farmer’s practicing medicine around the world if he didn’t have a strong moral reason for doing so: there would be no “how” without a “why.” It’s remarkable, Kidder notes, that Farmer—who claims to have little patience for belief in a traditional God—can devote his life to a form of Catholic doctrine like liberation theology. Farmer lives out the tenets of Catholicism, and yet doesn’t believe in its premises at all.

Paradoxically, Farmer’s conflicted relationship with science and religion make him the ideal doctor in Haiti, where science, religion, and magic have a similarly complicated relationship. Inspired by his own views of Catholicism, Farmer recognizes that the Haitians believe in Western science and their rich Voodoo tradition. Before Farmer, American doctors in Haiti largely assumed that drug treatments were useless, since the Haitians believed in Voodoo, not Western science. It was Farmer who popularized the view that Voodoo isn’t a binary: it’s perfectly possible to celebrate a Voodoo ritual while also believing in the value of Western medicine. By assuming that Haitian Voodoo precludes any belief in science, Farmer’s predecessors are essentially accusing the Haitians of believing in a “lesser religion” and privileging their own Christian or Jewish religious identities. Farmer encourages doctors to aim for a more nuanced understanding of Haitian beliefs, and as a result, he is highly successfully in treating his Haitian patients.

In the end, Kidder and Farmer suggest that science, magic, and religion aren’t particularly different, nor are they mutually exclusive. The notion that Voodoo is merely an irrational form of magic, while Catholicism is a proper religion, betrays American doctors’ racial bias. In contrast, Farmer maintains that it’s possible to believe in both science and the supernatural: Farmer’s own life is proof.