Josephus and other contemporaries on Jesus

[RoadRunner79]

I still don’t understand what methodolgies or principles that you are saying I’m being inconsistent on?  Are you making assumptions, or is this on something or her than the context of the discussion?

You seemed to imply that the Gospel of Matthew had a pre-70 date based upon (your words, emphasis mine):

I don’t think that there is any reason to doubt the attributes Gospel authors, other than a late dating. And it seems the best reason for late dating is the prediction of the Temple. However, I find the reasons for early dating to be more robust, and to point to the time and evidence, rather than an a priori bias. If you have a reason to believe this though that you feel is good, then feel free to share.

Very few (and, indeed, no mainstream) scholars hold to a pre-70 date for the composition of Matthew.

Oh that again... I thought you where referring to something in the conversation now. I think that you should looked up what scholars say about the argument from popularity and the argument from authority. This isn’t an inconsistency in my method or principles. I think that it is reasonable to ask even the scholars why?