About the Author

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for visiting Undone Doctrine! 

I'm Ryan: a trainer, curriculum architect, and e-Learning author with Zendesk. Everyday at the office, I have the privilege to accompany Zendesk's customer-facing teams on their learning journeys! I am particularly interested in training and coaching our teams to embody the characteristics of Servant Leadership (to anyone living in Wisconsin, I highly recommend the University of Wisconsin's Servant Leadership Certificate Program).

Outside of Zendesk, I am working (slowly) towards a Master's Degree (MDiv) in Theology through Luther Seminary. After reading Charles Taylor's epic philosophical tome A Secular Age, I started thinking increasingly about how I might find the areas of overlap between my secular, professional interests as a trainer and coach, and my spiritual, academic interests as a theologian.  Building upon Charles Taylor's idea of "cross pressures," or a secular person's thoughts about and experiences with the divine, I started to consider whether theological thinking might be a useful lens for all leaders - regardless of the context. I started this blog with that question in mind.

Though I am a trainer (and a Christian, of the ELCA Lutheran variety!), my goal in this blog is not to "train you" to be a theological thinker, and it is certainly not to convert you to any dogma, doctrine, or creed. Rather, I hope to present some questions that might guide a conversation, a conversation in which we engage contentious, divisive issues through a theological lens. My hope is that you will ultimately come to see theological thinking as a useful tool - a framework that you can actively apply  to myriad contexts, whether you work as a pastor in the church, a manager in your business, a barista at my favorite coffee shops, a mechanic at a bike store, a coach of the greatest program in college football, or any other vocation. We will begin by looking at why a theological framework is useful at this moment in history. We will discuss what constitutes such a framework. And then we will think theologically through the complex issues of the day.

I hope you will join me on this journey of thinking and reflection. All are welcome to the table. Whether you consider yourself a religious person or not, may God bless you - oh, and On, Wisconsin!

--Ryan Panzer

Twitter: @ryanpanzer