Austen Hartke (he/him) is an author, organizer, and lover of dogs and pastries. He grew up in Southern Minnesota and found his way into an ELCA church as a teenager, which would probably make his Norwegian great-grandparents smile. He holds a Bachelors degree in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota, and a Masters degree in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible from Luther Seminary. In 2018 he published “Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians” through Westminster John Knox Press, and in 2020 he founded Transmission Ministry Collective, a nonprofit supporting trans and gender-expansive Christians. These days you’re most likely to find Austen in a coffee shop with friends planning actions for community care, or at home reorganizing his bookshelves for the hundredth time.