Common Criteria for Judging Historicity of Historical Jesus Material

1. Orality
   1. Memorable
   2. Brief
2. Form
   1. Aphorism (Proverb)
   2. Chreia (Pronouncement)
   3. Parable
3. Dissimilarity
   1. Not like what we know of first- and second-century C.E. Jewish teaching and practice
   2. Not like what we know of first- and second-century C.E. Christian teaching and practice
   3. Not like the later interpretation or Christian proclamation
   4. Not like the evangelist/author who is reporting the incident/saying
4. Multiple attestation
   1. Sources: more than one source reports the same incident/saying
   2. Forms: more than one form relays the same key idea
5. Coherence
   1. Sounds like Jesus' other sayings
   2. Looks like other things we know Jesus did
   3. Makes sense out of the ultimate end of Jesus' life (i.e., his execution by Rome)
6. Embarassment
   1. The evangelist (or other source) really wishes Jesus had not said/done this
   2. The evangelist (or other source) really would rather not tell you this about Jesus
   3. The evangelist (or other source) really has no idea what Jesus meant when he said this