Which is older, Judaism or Christianity? The answer seems obvious, but it’s not: In one sense Christianity began in the Garden of Eden when God told the serpent that one of Adam and Eve’s descendants “shall bruise your head,” and in one sense Judaism began with the dominance of the Pharisees and the destruction of the Temple.

Which is older, Catholicism or evangelicalism? The answer might seem obvious, since Roman Catholics see Peter as the first pope while evangelical Protestantism began with the Reformation 500 years ago. But British pastor John Stott wrote in 1970: Evangelical theory is not “a modern brand of Christianity, but an ancient form, indeed the original one. It is New Testament Christianity.” J.I. Packer spoke similarly in 1978.

Kenneth Stewart’s In Search of Ancient Roots: The Christian Past and the Evangelical Identity Crisis (IVP, 2017) makes a strong case in support of Stott’s and Packer’s understanding. Stewart’s book is timely because even as the flow of former Catholics to evangelical churches far outnumbers movement in the other direction, some intellectuals have made highly publicized journeys from evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism or Orthodoxy, and some millennials are also hitting the road.

Stewart points out that early defenders of Protestantism like John Jewel and John Calvin contended that their understanding best corresponded to the faith of the early church: Calvin wrote, “If the contest were to be determined by patristic authority, the tide of victory would turn to our side.” Stewart argues that many contemporary evangelicals have not studied works by the apostolic fathers of the second century or by evangelical scholars over the centuries who mined those resources: A lack of doctrinal teaching at many evangelical churches leaves many millennials unaware of the crucial differences between Reformation understanding and Rome’s.

Stewart’s book would be a perfect gift for evangelicals irritated with current church politicization and tempted to swim the Tiber, which includes accepting the dogma of papal infallibility proclaimed in 1870. Christopher Hall’s Living Wisely with the Church Fathers (IVP, 2017) is an excellent complement to Stewart’s work, and one that brings out important insights such as Clement’s reminder that poverty does not create virtue and John Chrysostom’s look at how God formed the spiritual character of poor Lazarus—and how childbirth strengthens a young marriage: “The child is a sort of bridge, so that the three become one flesh, the child connecting each other on either side.”

BOOKMARKS

Stephen Mansfield’s Choosing Donald Trump (Baker, 2017) is an examination of the gamble that Trump supporters among Christian conservatives have taken: Mansfield writes that Trump “channeled their anger. He cut into their enemies. He promised to make their lives better. … They had never envisioned a man like him but they would take him, flaws and all. … Whatever the Trump administration becomes, they will be required to reconcile it with what they say they believe about God and his truth.”

Leaving Mormonism, edited by Corey Miller and Lynn Wilder (Kregel, 2017), includes essays by Miller, Wilder, and two other former Mormons turned evangelical Christians. It would be an excellent gift for thoughtful Latter-day Saints who are questioning the faith in which they were brought up. Stewart Kelly and James Dew’s Understanding Postmodernism (IVP, 2017) is a good introduction to, and Christian perspective on, postmodern thought.

I enjoyed reading three tales of endurance, of different kinds: Brett Archibald’s Alone: Lost Overboard in the Indian Ocean (Thomas Dunne, 2017) is the remarkable story of how a 50-year-old who fell off a boat during a storm survived for 28 hours. Gibraltar (Viking, 2018) by Roy and Lesley Adkins shows how soldiers and civilians in the tiny British territory withstood from 1779 to 1783 a land and sea siege by the forces of Spain and France. Frederick Buechner’s The Remarkable Ordinary (Zondervan, 2017) emphasizes the importance of day-to-day mindfulness. —M.O.