He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He attended the common schools of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (later Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania). In 1839, he studied law at the Carlisle Law School. He was admitted to the Dauphin County bar in 1842 and commenced practice in Harrisburg. He gained a reputation as a public speaker, and during the presidential campaigns of 1844 he spoke much in favor of Henry Clay. He served in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1844, 1845, and again in 1850, and was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1851 to 1853. He served as speaker in 1852 and 1853.

Kunkel was elected as an Oppositionist to the Thirty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress. He was chairman of the House Committee on Militia during the Thirty-fourth Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1858. He is interred at Harrisburg Cemetery.

• United States Congress. "John Christian Kunkel (id: K000340)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). "Kunkel, John Christian" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
• The Political Graveyard

• John Christian Kunkel at Find a Grave