Problematics of the Demarcation of Protestants and Neo-Protestants in Protestantism, Russian Religious Studies and Church Sectology (Part I)

Abstract

In recent years, Russian church sectology has used the term «Neo-Protestants» along with the terms «sect», «heresy» to distinguish Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Neo-Pentecostals, Adventists, the International Church of Christ, etc., to distinguish them from historical Protestants. This distinction has a historical, theological and dogmatic justification and is fixed in Сhurch liturgical texts; it is very relevant in the context of modern religious and political life in Russia. At the same time, in a number of publications in Сhurch publications, Neo-Protestant heresies are called Protestants, which does not fully correlate with the attitude towards Protestantism that has developed in the Russian Orthodox Тradition, as recorded in the liturgical «Rites of Joining to Orthodoxy», which distinguish between joining the Church of historical Protestants and neo-Protestants. Therefore, it becomes necessary to consider the issue of differentiation in more details. Within the framework of this issue, the influence of secular religious studies on Church Theology and the question of the correlation of religious knowledge about Christian, and in particular Protestant and Neo-Protestant, beliefs to the teachings of the Christian denominations themselves and their assessments of each other are also analyzed.