Review on: Makarov I. V. Ocherki istorii reformatsii v Finlyandii (1520–1620 gg.): Formirovanie natsionalnoy tserkovnosti. Portretyi vyidayuschihsya deyateley finskoy Reformatsii [Notes on history of Reformation in Finland (1520s–1620s): Development of national churchism and portraits of leading churchmen], Saint-Petersburg, 2007

The first Russian monograph dedicated to Reformation in Finland is reviewed in the text. The author appreciates the positives and negative sides of the book that gives to Russian public a detailed tableau of Church history of the neighbor country within contexts of Swedish and World politics, theological thought and religious controversy of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern time. In spite of its remoteness from the centre, Finnish province of Sweden is depicted as a part of Western Christendom, influenced by its main political and intellectual trends. This thesis, according to the reviewer, could be argued. However, the biographical notices describing main figures of the Finnish Reformation (for example, Michael Agricola or King Gustav Vasa) with a short anthology of their texts translated in Russian is a unique and valuable feature of the book. The reviewer finds out some disadvantages of the text. Firstly, the researcher demonstrates little knowledge of both recent and classical Russian historiography on Swedish history. Secondly, the book lacks attention to the theme of Ingria and its Evangelical Lutheran Church. Thirdly, I. V. Makarov often explains religious or any other specific by “national character of Finns” that sounds quite a primordialist formula. In general, the book appears to be worth reading for everyone interested in the Finnish Church and intellectual history.