Totally NOT a debate about the veracity of the gospels

[discipulus]

Then you should be a historical skeptic with regards to every piece of ancient literature, not just the Bible.

I'm reminded of the Civil War class I took in college. On the first day, our professor pointed out that the Civil War was the first war in human history where the majority of the soldiers were literate, and left us literally thousands of diaries to study, so we really know what it was like for them. In earlier conflicts, it was mostly just the leaders, and sometimes only the winners, who left behind any sort of written account of what happened, so history books are full of self serving propaganda from the winners of various wars.

And to be charitable, I can grant what you say is true.

But what follows?

That the above necessitates being historical skeptics?

No.

It means we need to endeavor to sift through the propaganda to come to the truth.