Two Different Stories on Jesus' Virgin Birth

Two different stories explain why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, one in Matthew and the other in Luke. Matthew's explanation, considered earlier than Luke's, is still dated 85 to 90 years after the event. Even the most optimistic estimates place the writing of Matthew's gospel many decades after Jesus' birth. While some conservative scholars suggest the gospels were written in the fifties or sixties, most historical critical scholars date them to at least the eighties, emphasizing the later timeline.