The Russian-language academic journal Novaya i noveyshaya istoriya (“Modern History and Contemporary Period”) is featuring a discussion about Protestantism. The journal is published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. In Issue #5, 2019, historian Ivan Fadeyev and philosopher Ivan Davydov from Moscow published an article where they claim that the meaning of the term Protestantism is too indefinite and therefore it should not be used in historical analysis or for an analysis of religious identity. They make reference to the claims and arguments to that effect made earlier by Aleksandr Prilutski, formerly ELCIR Chief Secretary and rector of the ELCIR Theological Institute (TICI).
In his article in Issue #2, 2021, Sergei Isayev, a member of the TICI faculty, analyzes and criticizes their argumentation. In his opinion, the use of the term Protestantism is sometimes appropriate as a summary characterization of the churches that emerged during the Reformation and later. In his assessment, the claims against the term Protestantism made by Ivan Davydov, Aleksandr Prilutski, and Ivan Fadeyev are unreasonably high: the same objections and on the same grounds might be made just about any of the summarizing terms which have always been and will be used by historians.
Thank you Mr. Isayev for the information!
Links to the article in the electronic archive of Novaya i noveyshaya istoriya:
Davydov I. P., Fadeyev I. A. Pervonachalnyi smysl termina “protestantizm”: istoriko-filosofskoe issledovanie (“The Original Meaning of the Term ‘Protestantism’: a Historical-Philosophical Study”): https://arxiv.gaugn.ru/s013038640006341-3-1/
Isayev S. A. “Protestantizm”: znachenie termina v istoricheskoi nauke i religiovedenii (“‘Protestantism’: the Meaning of the Term in Historical Science and Studies of Religions”): https://arxiv.gaugn.ru/s013038640009040-2-1/