Purity, Conversion and the Evidence Based Movements

This article explores parallels between some aspects of the history of Judaeo Christianity and recent writing promoting evidence based medicine (EBM). Taking as a starting point Kristeva’s and Douglas’ investigations of Old Testament dietary regulation, it proposes that rigorous attention to research intake fulfils a similar symbolic function within these EBM texts as the strict dietary laws of Leviticus. It is noted that EBM texts also feature accounts of personal conversion central to evangelical religious discourse. The article examines two texts that promote EBM, published in 1991 and 1996, adopting a discourse analytic approach to identify the fundamental themes upon which these texts rely. While the earlier text features a harsh separation between wisdom and superstition, it is asked to what extent the more recent account of EBM, which appears to set up a new relationship between ‘external’ evidence and the realm of individual (professional) judgement, reflects one aspect of the new dispensation of the Christian New Testament and a movement away from strict dietary laws. It concludes that such parallels are only partial.