diff --git a/inst/NEWS b/inst/NEWS
index 5d8b2f7d..139109aa 100644
--- a/inst/NEWS
+++ b/inst/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+htmlwidgets 1.5.1.9000
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+* Fixed an issue with passing named function declarations to `JS()` and `onRender()` (introduced by v1.4). (#356)
+
 htmlwidgets 1.5.1
 -------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/inst/www/htmlwidgets.js b/inst/www/htmlwidgets.js
index 6f3d672d..3d227624 100644
--- a/inst/www/htmlwidgets.js
+++ b/inst/www/htmlwidgets.js
@@ -249,13 +249,13 @@
   function tryEval(code) {
     var result = null;
     try {
-      result = eval(code);
+      result = eval("(" + code + ")");
     } catch(error) {
       if (!error instanceof SyntaxError) {
         throw error;
       }
       try {
-        result = eval("(" + code + ")");
+        result = eval(code);
       } catch(e) {
         if (e instanceof SyntaxError) {
           throw error;