criticisms, form criticism is the most problematic. It is problematic because by its very nature a great deal of subjectivity comes into play. We really do not know what the practices were of first-century Christians who told and retold the sayings of and stories about Jesus.23 Therefore, we can never be sure of precisely what setting a piece of tradition may reflect. The German scholars who applied form criticism to the Gospels assigned a great deal of the traditions to the early Church, rather