It says "an era when it has become increasingly popular to insist that Jesus is already depicted as a pre-existent figure in the Synoptic Gospels." This means it is popular right now among bible scholars to argue that Jesus was depicted as a pre existent divine being in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is the trend that Kirk is arguing against.Okay, glad we got that straight. And I think he's wrong. It is not popular at all.