Anthea Butler

Anthea Butler is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on African American religious history, particularly the social and religious lives of women in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). She authored Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World, a seminal study on COGIC's Women's Department and its role in challenging gender norms within the church and broader society. Butler is a prominent public intellectual, appearing in media such as CNN, BBC, and the New York Times, and critiques contemporary issues like white evangelical racism. Her research intersects religious history, race, gender, and social activism.

Her scholarship highlights how COGIC women leveraged spiritual authority to navigate racial and gendered power dynamics from the early 20th century through the civil rights era. Reviews acclaim her work as foundational for understanding African American Pentecostal traditions. Butler actively engages in public discourse, hosting events on topics such as systemic racism within religious institutions.