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Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World

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Professor Anthea Butler's Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World is a must read for all who are interested in the value of staying focused on an established mission. This book clearly demonstrates how a clear mission to sanctify the world deteriorated into an internal mission of sanctifying a denoninational church called the Church of God in Christ. From the founding of the Church of God in Christ with the support of Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, Mother Lizzie Woods Robinson and Mother Lillian Brooks Coffey created a standard for both personal sanctification and in extending the influence of the Church in the world through active participation in civic activities to elevate the quality of life for all. They followed the lifting as we climb strategy into social prominence and respectability in the community at-large. The emphasis in the Church went from dressing to look holy to dressing to reflect your status in the Church organization and in civic afairs. This book also addressed the unresolved issue of what to do with and about women of influence in the ministry and in the Church's organizational structure especially as they out-distanced the male leaders under whom they are supposed to serve. Unfortunately for women in the Church of God in Christ, it seems that their role in the second half of the twentieth century declined as the Church went through a period of turmoil after the death of the founder and the nation as a whole experienced the civil rights movement and the resurgence of the feminist movement in the 1970s which forced Church women to retreat to more traditional subservient roles. This is a marvelous study of the rise and decline of women power in the Church of God in Christ which also coincides with the decline in the Church's influence in cvic affairs.

As someone who grew up in the COGIC, with an academic background in women's studies and political science,I found this both a personal and intellectual pleasure to read. Her balanced approach to the shortcomings and hidden strengths of the church's history as it relates to women's voice and agency is honest and revelatory. For anyone interested in some of the little known history of this faith, this book reveals the origin of some of the traditions and mores of this faith to even the "un-churched" reader. It also entertains even the non-academic reader. I can't wait until Butler produces her next book!

This book is wonderful and full of interesting facts. I recommmend that every women that is involved in ministry to read this book.