@fmf said
Is there any reason to believe the gospels are eye witness accounts aside from the fact that believers assert that they are?
Scholars say that the oldest of the gospels is Mark, which was written around 70 AD, some 30 to 40 years after the death of Jesus on the cross.
Scholars also seem to conclude that the author was anonymous, but given the time frame seems reasonable that the author could have easily been an eye witness.
Then you have the other three gospels written later, all with some variation, as if the authors had not read the prior gospel accounts.
It is speculative to who could have written all of them, but they seem to agree more than they disagree. Moreover, why do they seem to agree as closely as they do while not attempting to duplicate one another?
These are questions we all must grapple with, but at the end of the day, to be a Christian means one thing, belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lee Stroebal in his book "Case for Christ" is one man's attempt at analyzing the facts surrounding the resurrection, and through much study and reasoning, concluded that it occurred and was converted.