Home Page of Keith B. Miller

Department of Geology
108 Thompson Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
e-mail keithbmill@gmail.com
office phone: (785) 532-2250
fax: (785) 532-5159
    


 

Education

Geology Research






Recent Courses Taught

Selected Publications

Web Resources on Kansas Geology

  • The Permian System of Kansas pdf of a Kansas Geological Survey publication that has an up-to-date and in-depth discussion of Kansas geology.

    • Professional Memberships



    Public Science Education and the Science/Faith Dialogue

    I am very involved at both the state and national levels in the advocacy for quality public science education and public science literacy.  Much of my efforts have focused on the historical sciences and particularly evolutionary science.  The public "Creation/Evolution" debate has been destructive to both the public understanding of science and to the discussion of important theological issues within the Christian community.  The widespread perception of a "warfare of science and faith" is an historically false caricature.  Christian theologians and scientists, including evangelicals, since the time of Darwin have seen no necessary conflict between orthodox theology and an evolutionary understanding of the history of life.  Modern science is not a threat to Christian faith, and people need not feel forced into a choice between evolution and Creation.

    Challenges to modern evolutionary science are often rooted in fundamental misperceptions of the nature of science itself.  There is a widespread perception that the focus of science on natural cause-and-effect explanations is a thinly disguised effort to promote a godless worldview, rather than an inherent methodological limitation.  Furthermore, many people view "theories" as merely unsubstantiated guesses, rather than as the unifying concepts that give our observations coherence and meaning.  Science for many is simply an encyclopedic accumulation of unchanging observational "facts."  But science is a dynamic process with the continual construction and revision of theories based on new discoveries.  It is that dynamic process which makes science so inherently exciting.  Lastly, much of the popular critique of evolutionary theory is based on completely false views of its theoretical content and observational foundation.  As educators we need to improve how we teach both the content and methodological foundation of science.

    I believe that it is critical that the science/faith dialogue be based on a solid and accurate grasp of the conclusions of the historical sciences and of the best theological scholarship.  

    Personal Web Resources

    Other Links and Resources

    For a wide range of other inforamtion and web links please see my other website "Scifaithkansas."   This site has extensive resources on public science literacy, and the relationship of Christian theology and contenporary science.