What did Jesus teach? What did he see as his mission? And does this mean anything for us today?
These are the questions I am aiming to address with this website. The site is a continually updated publication of my views on these topics, using historical methods to try to answer the first two questions. I also intend to cover how Jesus was understood in the first few centuries after his death and how that affects views about him today.
My motivations are both personal and political.
On a personal level, I was raised as a Roman Catholic Christian and the teachings and example of Jesus as portrayed in the Christian scriptures are deeply embedded in me. My beliefs about Christianity have altered over time, but I still derive inspiration and guidance from how I understand Jesus. I want to insure that my understanding is well-grounded and determine how honestly I can still consider myself a follower of Jesus.
On a political level, for many years now I have been concerned about the political activities of people who regard themselves as conservative Christians. More recently the rise of Christian nationalism and Christian supremacy in the U.S., and its hold on many members of the MAGA alliance supporting Donald Trump, is something I want to challenge with better information and understanding of what Jesus taught to his followers.
As for my credentials, I am not a professional historian or Biblical scholar, although many years ago I considered becoming the latter. I have an undergraduate degree with a major in Religious Studies (the academic study of religion), focusing on modern Biblical Studies and with four years’ study of koine Greek, the language the canonical Christian scriptures were originally written in. In graduate school I went on to finish a doctorate in political science with a minor in history and, later, obtained a master’s degree in professional counseling. I worked in each of the latter two fields before I retired several years ago. Over my adult years I have read many books and articles about the historical Jesus, listened to podcasts, watched videos and online lectures, and discussed the subject with other people. So I would describe myself as an amateur, motivated by love of the subject rather than a professional interest.
As any assessment of the evidence about what Jesus taught could be colored by the religious views of the assessor, I want to be transparent about mine. I regard myself as a follower of Jesus but not a Christian in the conventional meaning of the term. While I do not now believe in a trinitarian God (three “persons” with one nature), that Jesus was the unique incarnation of God, or that Jesus died in order to release his followers from sin, I also do not think there is a way to prove or disprove these ideas. I leave such theological questions open.
I started this site on July 11 2025, and will add to it and revise it over time as I learn more and come across better arguments regarding the subjects at hand. Each page on the site will cover a different topic and each blog post will announce new pages and/or explain changes to the pages as they are made. Take each page as a work in progress; I invite you to comment on the blog posts if you have something you think I should know about or consider.
If you want to be updated on changes to this site, you can subscribe to the blog in the box below. You should receive an email asking you to confirm that you subscribed. If you don’t find the email in your email inbox, try looking in your spam folder. If you still don’t find it, email me: alan@politicaldharma.com
In closing, I also invite you to take a look at my YouTube channel, the Spiritual and Political Podcast, in which I often tackle religious and spiritual topics. Thanks for visiting the website.
–Alan Zundel
Jesus Reconstructed 