AUSTEN HARTKE: If you believe, like I do, that God made me. This will be a “mixed-methods” workshop encouraging participants who inhabit borderlands, “middle-identity” spaces in/between dominant psychic ways of being to explore and voice their own valid social locations – and to utilize their own stories as a point of departure for creating healing theology from positions of liminality. Austen Hartke is a Lutheran theologian and author of 'Transforming,' a book about the Bible and the lives of transgender Christians. In this workshop, Hebrew Bible scholar and trans YouTuber Austen Hartke and Japanese American liturgist Kenji Kuramitsu will share their own stories of liminality along the lines of race, gender, and sexuality, uplifting relevant characters from across the witness of church and scripture throughout. Connect with him on Twitter Binaries: God-talk from Liminal Spaces Austen spends his time advocating for transgender inclusion in churches, and helping communities find ways to grow in love and justice together. Austen Hartke’s groundbreaking, best-selling book is now updated and expanded with new insights and terminology, plus new materials for study groups, preaching, and pastoral care. As a transgender person of faith, his greatest passion is helping other trans and gender-non-conforming people see themselves in scripture. Austen is a graduate of Luther Seminary’s Master of Arts program in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Studies, and is the winner of the 2010 John Milton Prize in Old Testament Writing from the same institution. By introducing transgender issues and language and providing stories of both biblical characters and real-life narratives from transgender Christians living today, Hartke helps listeners visualize a more inclusive Christianity, equipping them with the confidence and tools to change both the church and the world.Austen Hartke is the creator of the YouTube series “Transgender and Christian,” which seeks to understand, interpret, and share parts of the Bible that relate to gender identity and the lives of transgender individuals.

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians provides access into an underrepresented and misunderstood community and will change the way listeners think about transgender people, faith, and the future of Christianity. Into this void, Austen Hartke offers a biblically based, educational, and affirming resource to shed light and wisdom on this modern gender landscape.

Years later, many people-even many LGBTQ allies-still lack understanding of gender identity and the transgender experience. He first reached out to me after I published my resource guide. In 2014, Time magazine announced that America had reached the transgender tipping point, suggesting that transgender issues would become the next civil rights frontier. Im so excited to introduce you all to my friend Austen.

Austen hartke