Dr. Steve Case of ONU merges faith and science with fiction and nonfiction genres

When you hear the word prolific, Dr. Steve Case of ONU's Department of Chemistry and Geosciences is sure to come to mind. A scholar and an imaginer, he has a dual devotion to writing and research.

Short story publication
His most recent publication is his science fiction short story, "Sisters of the Flare," which is featured on the cover of the July/August 2024 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. The work is Case's 45th published short story and his second sale to Asimov's.

"It was a huge surprise to see the cover of the issue," Case says. "I knew my story would be in the issue, but I had no idea it would provide the cover illustration. In this story, I wanted to examine faith in an extreme situation. What happens to people when their world is radically different than the world they came to faith in? It's a story about hope and the stories that give us meaning. I'm thrilled to see it in the pages of Asimov's."

Essay and article publications
In addition to this fiction publication, this summer Case also saw the publication of two of his essays based on research projects at ONU. AeonMagazine recently published his longform essay, "Learning to love monsters," based on a summer research project pursued with the support of a ONU Hippenhammer Faculty Research Grant.

In this essay, Case addresses our modern world's love/hate relationship with wind turbines. In comparing them with windmills and his observations when taking his ONU classes to tour the Pilot Hill Wind Farm near campus, he says: "With the spread of modern windfarms, the cultural positioning of wind power remains a contentious issue. But the debate is not new: for centuries, the symbolic nature of windmills - as technological monsters or icons of the idyllic - has been open to question. Understanding this debate can help open new avenues for engagement with today's wind technology." This essay topped the weekly JSTOR Daily list of writings from around the web that "bridge the gap between news and scholarship."

Case's article, "Sealed Rooms of the Past: Theology and the B-Theory of Time," appears in the most recent issue (Issue 31) of Fare Forward, a Christian review of ideas. In this article, he addresses a new theory of how to understand time, first proposed by Einstein, as a way to honor the worth and importance of a universe and timeline too vast for our attention.

Book publications
Books are also in Case's portfolio. He is the author of Making Stars Physical: The Astronomy of Sir John Herschel (2018). Cambridge University Press released The Cambridge Companion to John Herschel, which Case co-edited, in 2024. As one of the preeminent John Herschel scholars, Case authored the chapter of the book focusing on Herschel's astronomy. Creatures of Reason: John Herschel and the Invention of Science, Case's most recent book project, is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2024 by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

About Dr. Steve Case
Dr. Case serves as director of ONU's University Honors Program. In this role he supervises honors students in their mentored research projects. As a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences, he teaches planetary astronomy, physics, and courses on the history of science, and science and theology.

"Writing is central to who I am as a scholar and teacher," he explains. "We think and learn by writing, in any genre, and that's something I love passing along to my students."