Advent Bounties 2016

Question

In 2013 and 2015, some members of this community took part in a "bounty challenge" to encourage excellent content during the Advent season. I think the idea is great, and the first week of 2016's advent is ending today, so I'd like to see if there's interest in doing this again.

As last year, feel free to choose your own criteria and schedule for placing bounties – some prefer to place one or two bounties on questions that need new answers, while others like to reward existing excellent answers once a week, for example. Simply post an answer here with your criteria, and update it as you add bounties to questions.

Answer 1

I'll create a bounty each week, and, like last year, at least most of them will go toward rewarding existing content that I feel hasn't quite gotten the attention it deserves.

• Week 1: What translation of Augustine's Confessions is the easiest to read in English?
  • Dɑvïd's answer to this question is impressive in both its breadth and depth. It helps that I heartily agree with his postscript recommendation of Chadwick's Confessions.
• Week 2: What is the Biblical basis for the belief that there are humans in heaven now?
  • Lee's answer is a useful resource for those of us who rarely give much thought to such a common/ingrained belief. Nice organization and analysis.
• Week 3: Do any theologians argue that in the Fall, Adam sacrificed himself out of love for Eve?
  • Bruised reed's answer helpfully identifies an early advocate of the view in question and provides numerous primary and secondary sources.
• Week 4: In RC doctrine, when is pop culture, like Bernstein's Mass, appropriate to tell sacred messages?
  • KorvinStarmast's answer pulls together several sources to explain the parameters of sacred and popular music .

Answer 2

I very much enjoyed this activity last year, so I too will be be offering bounties this year (albeit a week late.)

• Week 2: What is the scientific effectiveness of “street preaching” as a method of evangelization?
  
  I find this question very interesting and am fascinated by sociological data about Christianity and wish we would use it more to more effectively evangelize. As such, I am hoping that there is research into this topic to be found out there. There is only one answer so far which was pretty anemic in terms of data and academic rigor.

  A good answer should include statistics that show the number of converts from street preaching either per time period or % or number of believers who came to belief/made a decision due to street preaching and/or the retention rates of these types of converts (how many people become regular attenders at church, how long this lasts, etc) compared to other types of conversions (discipleship, altar calls, etc)

  Result: No new answers were added, so this bounty will go unawarded.
  
  
  

• Week 3: Was the Nicene Creed accepted under duress?

  A few existing answers are decent, but are missing several key points of note including the exile of Athanasius and the role of Eusebius of Nicomedia in that and the potential for reversals under subsequent Emperors.

  Result: No new answers were added, but as I noted the existing answers were decent. As a result, I will be adding an answer to supply additional supplementary details missing from existing answers.
  
  
  

• Week 4: What were the scriptural arguments used for modern western racism?

  Studying our past helps prevent the same mistakes in the future. This question has gone relatively unanswered. This bounty hopes to draw attention to it in order to provide more answers to how racism was perpetrated historically in order to avoid similar bigotries in the future. Answers should seek to include details to some or all of how:

• Scriptures were used to justify slavery

• Scripture might have been used to support the idea that slavery benefited African American people

• Scriptures might have been used to condemn interracial marriage

• Scriptures were used to support segregation

• Scriptures might have been used to support the argument that African-American people were an inferior race

  Result: Despite Jeremy H being the only added answer after the bounty was offered, it was outstanding in every respect and I thus awarded the bounty to his answer.