I don't know much about Kirk or McGrath. I've read a few of McGrath's blogs on Patheos. This doesn't impress me any more than your OP. I'm sure there is an audience for this, but that audience is people who haven't done much of any Bible study. If you do, and are still convinced that Jesus was God, or even that the NT clearly says Jesus was God, then either you wanted to think that in the first place and facts don't matter to you, or, you're just not a very good studier.
I don't know what you are talking about. My whole point is that Jesus is NOT a God, but just a human.
I'm talking about how easy it is to figure out he is not. A book like this seems to be directed to someone who started out thinking Jesus is God, and didn't really question it much. Before reading this book, I'd first need to be convinced why it would take a book of this length to convince someone the Jesus story is anything but an idealized figure.
Kirk's review threw me for a loop right here, "Written in an era when it has become increasingly popular to insist that Jesus is already depicted as a pre-existent figure in the Synoptic Gospels, one who is absorbed into the “divine identity," ".
What era is Kirk living in? It is becoming decreasingly popular to insist that. Fundamentalists are the embarrassing cousins in the Christian family. Very few people believe all the miracles in the Bible, especially the ones with Jesus.
The issue isn't whether commentators "today" think Jesus is a God, but rather if the writers of The New Testament thought Jesus was a God. McGrath, Kirk, and I say the writers of The New Testament didn't think Jesus was a God, but rather a human person.
It was never an either/or question in the Church as I remember it. We were taught that Jesus was both a true man and a true god. That idea does sound contradictory to me, as an atheist, but that, as far as I know, is what Catholics and other Christians believe.
Here are some biblical passages. Do these seem to you to say that the New Testament writers thought Jesus was god or not?
John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 5:18, "For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."
John 8:24, "I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins."
John 10:30-33, "I and the Father are one." 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.
John 20:28, "Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
Col. 2:9, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."
Matt. 14:33, "And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God’s Son!"
Matt. 28:9, "And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him."
John 9:35-38, "Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered and said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." 38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him."
Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me."
Lois