Around when was the book of Matthew written?

According to the Urantia Book, it was written in AD 71.

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121:8.4 2. The Gospel of Matthew. The so-called Gospel according to Matthew is the record of the Master's life which was written for the edification of Jewish Christians. The author of this record constantly seeks to show in Jesus' life that much which he did was that " it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. " Matthew's Gospel portrays Jesus as a son of David, picturing him as showing great respect for the law and the prophets.

121:8.5 The Apostle Matthew did not write this Gospel. It was written by Isador, one of his disciples, who had as a help in his work not only Matthew's personal remembrance of these events but also a certain record which the latter had made of the sayings of Jesus directly after the crucifixion. This record by Matthew was written in Aramaic; Isador wrote in Greek. There was no intent to deceive in accrediting the production to Matthew. It was the custom in those days for pupils thus to honor their teachers.

121:8.6 Matthew's original record was edited and added to in A.D. 40 just before he left Jerusalem to engage in evangelistic preaching. It was a private record, the last copy having been destroyed in the burning of a Syrian monastery in A.D. 416.

121:8.7 Isador escaped from Jerusalem in A.D. 70 after the investment of the city by the armies of Titus, taking with him to Pella a copy of Matthew's notes. In the year 71, while living at Pella, Isador wrote the Gospel according to Matthew. He also had with him the first four fifths of Mark's narrative.

Biblical scholars generally hold that Matthew was composed between the years c. 70 and 100.[77][78][79][80] A minority of scholars believe, however, that the gospel could have been written as early as 63.[40] Ignatius seemed to have knowledge of four Pauline epistles and the Gospel of Matthew",[81] which gives a terminus ad quem of c. 110. The author of the Didache (c 100) probably knew it as well.[6] Many scholars see the prophecy of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem [82] as suggesting a date of composition after the year 70.[83]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Matthew#Dat...

On a personal note - I spend a lot of time studying text criticism and the history of the Bible as a physical book, and my personal opinion [which, of course, is only that] - is that the methods used to date biblical books tend to be very, very weak. External evidence [ie, actual manuscripts] are the only REAL controls we have for dating these books. Internal evidence is extremely questionable in almost all instances, even if it's usually not presented that way, trust me - it is.

Personally, I would not be shocked at all if Matthew were written far earlier than 70ad, nor would I be shocked if it wasn't written until 100. The fact is, there's just not a lot to really work with.

As far as external evidence, however, P104 [papyrus #104] is [I believe] the oldest fragment of Matthew, and it is typically dated to 150 [which is a round number - more appropriate to say it's 125-175]. This means that Matthew was in wide circulation by that date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_104

Hope this helps. :-P

Most likely between 70 and 100 CE.

edit:

@PROBLEM. I just "found" a text saying the WTC in New York was going to be hit by airplanes. That must mean it was written before 2001 and is prophesy, right? Not merely framed as prophesy and actually written after the fact, right?

Most scholars put it somewhere between 60 and 80 AD/CE. It was probably written after Mark, and before Luke. According to tradition from the 2nd century, it was originally written in Hebrew and was later translated to Greek, but there's no evidence to support that.

Had to be before 70 AD

Matthew 24:2: "'Do you see all these things?' he [Jesus] asked. 'I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'" In this verse, the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place in A. D. 70, is viewed as an event yet to come.

If it was after, I am sure they would have said, AH HA...it happened just like He said.

Somewhere around 100 CE.