:Anthea Butler

{{Infobox academic|name=Anthea Butler|birth_date={{Birth year and age|1960}}|birth_place=Texas, US|awards=Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought|thesis_title=A Peculiar Synergy: Matriarchy and the Church of God in Christ|doctoral_advisor=Lewis V. Baldwin|thesis_url=https://ir.vanderbilt.edu/handle/1803/11561?show=full|thesis_year=2001}}

Anthea Deidre Butler (born 1960) is an African-American professor of religion and chair of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Religious Studies, where she is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought.

Early life and education

Born in Texas in 1960, Anthea Deidre Butler is the daughter of Jesse and Willa Mae (Anthony) Butler.{{Cite web|date=1960|title=Texas, U.S., Birth Index, 1903-1997|url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8781/images/TXBTH_1960_000301f?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=8180858|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=www.ancestry.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224075924/https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8781/images/TXBTH_1960_000301f?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=8180858 |archive-date=December 24, 2021 }}{{Cite news|date=June 15, 1977|title=Times topics|pages=1|work=The La Marque Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91071596/times-topics/|access-date=December 24, 2021}} She attended La Marque High School in La Marque, Texas, winning prizes in local music contests playing the marimba.{{Cite news|date=September 28, 1977|title=LMHS girls place for scholarships|pages=11|work=The La Marque Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91071334/lmhs-girls-place-for-scholarships/|access-date=December 24, 2021}}{{Cite news|date=February 9, 1977|title=LMHS band wins 76 gold medals in contest|pages=1|work=The La Marque Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91095807/lmhs-band-wins-76-gold-medals-in-contest/|access-date=December 24, 2021}}{{Cite news|date=May 12, 1978|title=La Marque High School MarKeys Winners in Tri-State Festival|pages=6|work=The Galveston Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91095379/la-marque-high-school-markeys-winners/|access-date=December 24, 2021}}

She completed a B.A. degree at the University of Houston–Clear Lake; an M.A. in theology at the Fuller Theological Seminary in California; and an M.A. in religion at Vanderbilt University.{{cite news |last1=Getsos |first1=Alexandra |title=Professor brings religion to 21st century |url=https://www.thedp.com/article/2013/02/professor-brings-religion-to-21st-century |access-date=December 19, 2021 |work=The Daily Pennsylvanian |date=February 18, 2013}}{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=Anthea |title=Anthea D. Butler Vita 2009-2011 |url=https://africana.sas.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Anthea-Butler-CV.pdf |website=Africana Studies |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}} She earned a Ph.D. in Religion at Vanderbilt University in 2001, with the dissertation, A Peculiar Synergy: Matriarchy and the Church of God in Christ, advised by Lewis V. Baldwin.{{cite web|last=Butler|first=Anthea D.|date=2005|title=A Peculiar Synergy: Matriarchy and the Church of God in Christ|url=https://ir.vanderbilt.edu/handle/1803/11561?show=full|language=en}}

Career

Butler was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Race, Religion, and Gender at Princeton University from 2001 to 2002. She has also been on the faculties of Loyola Marymount University and the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. In 2008 and 2009, she was a research associate and Colorado Scholar in the Women’s Study in Religion Program of Harvard Divinity School. Since 2009 she has been on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where she now serves as chair of the Department of Religious Studies.{{Cite web|title=Anthea Butler Named Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought {{!}} Department of Religious Studies|url=https://rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2021/10/12/anthea-butler-named-geraldine-r-segal-professor-american-social-thought|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=rels.sas.upenn.edu}}

She has taught classes on the religious beliefs of Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King and is known for her extensive use of social media and engagement in religious debates on Twitter. She has written for Religion Dispatches, TheGrio and CNN's Belief Blog.

Views

As an educator, Butler was among those who protested against Colin Powell being awarded an honorary degree from the University of Rochester.{{cite news |title=Powell |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90839909/democrat-and-chronicle/ |access-date=December 19, 2021 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |date=October 21, 2007 |pages=68}} She has also spoken on issues such as the sexuality of Pentecostal women, and has criticised the Evangelicalism of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.{{cite news |last1=Leicht |first1=Linda |title=Expert to discuss Pentecostal women at Drury |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90838158/the-springfield-news-leader/ |access-date=December 19, 2021 |work=The Springfield News-Leader |date=November 29, 2008 |pages=26}} She has been critical of the American Christian right and Evangelicalism in general, arguing that it is white supremacist;{{cite news |last1=Chan |first1=Mitchell |title=Penn prof. makes national headlines for calling Ben Carson a 'coon' |url=https://www.thedp.com/article/2015/10/anthea-butler-coon-of-the-year-twitter-comment |access-date=December 19, 2021 |work=The Daily Pennsylvanian |date=October 16, 2015}}{{Cite web |date=2022-11-03 |title=Opinion {{!}} 'God Forbid' Jerry Falwell Jr. actually practiced what he preached |url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/god-forbid-jerry-falwell-jr-actually-practiced-what-he-preached-n1300493 |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=MSNBC.com |language=en}} her 2021 book White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America discusses White American Evangelicals and that group's support for former President Donald Trump and conservative Republicans, arguing that "evangelicalism is not a simply religious group at all" but a racist, "nationalistic political movement".{{cite journal |last1=Harvey |first1=Paul |title=White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. By Anthea Butler |journal=Journal of Church and State |date=September 17, 2021 |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=753–755 |doi=10.1093/jcs/csab065 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jcs/article-abstract/63/4/753/6371803 |access-date=December 19, 2021 |issn=0021-969X|doi-access=free }}

In 2015, in response to Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's views on the modern display of the Confederate battle flag at NASCAR races, she argued that he deserved a "Coon of the Year" award on Twitter, leading to criticism among conservatives for her use of an anti-Black racial slur.{{cite news |title=Professor's bigotry display draws little notice on this college campus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90838335/the-daily-oklahoman/ |access-date=December 19, 2021 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |date=October 19, 2015 |pages=8}}{{cite news |last1=Weaver |first1=Al |title=Ivy League professor calls Carson a 'coon' |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ivy-league-professor-calls-carson-a-coon |access-date=December 20, 2021 |work=Washington Examiner |publisher=Fox News |date=October 7, 2015}} Tommy Christopher of Mediaite defended her use of the word, arguing that the slur had different connotations when said by a Black person (such as Butler) than a White person.{{cite news |last1=Christopher |first1=Tommy |title=Ivy League Professor Didn't Actually Call Ben Carson 'Coon of the Year' |url=https://www.mediaite.com/online/ben-carson-is-not-actually-coon-of-the-year/ |access-date=December 20, 2021 |work=Mediaite |date=October 7, 2015}}

Personal life

Butler is Catholic, and for a period identified as an Evangelical.{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Anthea |date=2020-10-21 |title=Tweet |url=https://twitter.com/antheabutler/status/1318991743291969540 |access-date=2022-07-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}}

Selected publications

= Books =

{{Cite book|last=Butler|first=Anthea|title=Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8078-5808-0|language=EN}}
{{Cite book|last=Butler|first=Anthea|title=The Gospel According to Sarah: How Sarah Palin's Tea Party Angels Are Galvanizing the Religious Right|year=2019|publisher=New Press |isbn=9781595587107}}
{{Cite book|last=Butler|first=Anthea|title=White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2021|isbn=978-1-4696-6117-9|language=EN}}

=Articles=

Butler, Anthea D. "African American Religious Conservatives in the New Millennium." in Sutton, Matthew Avery. Faith in the New Millennium 2016: 59-73. {{ISBN|0199372705}}.
Butler, A. D. "{{Nbsp}}'Only a Woman Would Do' Bible Reading and African American Women’s Organizing Work." Women and Religion in the African Diaspora: Knowledge, Power, and Performance, 155-178.
Butler, A. D. (2001). Institutional authority vs. charismatic authority (pp. 100-114).
Butler, A. D. (2007). Unrespectable Saints: Women of the Church of God in Christ.
Butler, A. D., Walton, J. L., Neal, R. B., Hart, W. D., Sorett, J., Blum, E., & Glaude Jr, E. S. (2010). The Black Church is Dead—Long Live the Black Church. Religion Dispatches.

Awards and honors

In 2021, Butler was named the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought, a professorship "...interdisciplinary in nature and awarded to a scholar of national reputation whose central interests include human rights, civil liberties, and race relations."

Butler was a Yale University Presidential Visiting Fellow for 2019-20, "to investigate the prosperity gospel and its political dimensions in the American and Nigerian contexts".{{Cite web|title=Presidential Visiting Fellows for 2019-20 {{!}} Faculty Development & Diversity|url=https://faculty.yale.edu/presidential-visiting-fellows-2019-20|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=faculty.yale.edu}}{{Cite web|title=Anthea D. Butler|url=https://www.acls.org/fellow-grantees/anthea-d-butler/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=ACLS|language=en-US}}

References

External links

{{YouTube|id=HfN-Rd4wI0E|title=Episode One: "Becoming Less Racist: Lighting the Path to Anti-Racism" with Anthea Butler}}, video (47:53 minutes)
{{YouTube|id=Ie2F2S-2zG4&t=35s|title=From Words to Work: Dismantling Racism}}, video (1:26:01 hours)

Category:1960 births

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:20th-century African-American educators

Category:20th-century American educators

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century American women educators

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century African-American academics

Category:21st-century American academics

Category:21st-century African-American women

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American educators