Jimmy Akin

Jimmy Akin (born in 1965) is an American Catholic apologist, author, speaker, and podcast host. He has been working for Catholic Answers^[2] since 1993, their longest-serving staff member.

Jimmy Akin
Akin providing a rebuttal during his 2022 debate with Bart Ehrman.
YouTube information
Channel	Jimmy Akin
Years active	2009-Present
Subscribers	83k[1]
Total views	8,800,000+[1]
Last updated: October 24, 2024

Biography

Born in 1965 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jimmy Akin grew up nominally Protestant in Fayetteville, Arkansas. As a child, he attended services at the local Church of Christ with his parents but became interested in the New Age movement as a teenager. During his time in college, Akin encountered the preaching of the televangelist Eugene "Gene" Scott and became a Christian, finding a denominational home in the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, and wanted to be a pastor or seminary professor.^[3][4]

Soon after becoming a Christian, Akin met his future wife, Renee Humphrey, who had been baptized a Catholic but held many New Age beliefs. Over the course of their relationship, Renee reverted to Catholicism and resumed practicing the faith. They were married in 1988 and Akin soon after converted to Catholicism in 1992. Later that year, Humphrey died of colon cancer.^[5][4][6]

He is the senior apologist for Catholic Answers.^[7] While his academic training is in philosophy, he is also an autodidact, who has managed to acquire an extensive background in apologetics, biblical studies, theology, liturgy, canon law, and related disciplines.^[8]

Akin is a weekly guest on the national radio program Catholic Answers Live, a regular contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a popular blogger and podcaster. His personal web site is JimmyAkin.com.^[9]

He defended charges that Pope John Paul II engaged in self-flagellation, writing, "Self-mortification teaches humility by making us recognize that there are things more important than our own pleasure."^[10] Akin said that while Chick tracts were inaccurate, he thought they brought some people to God.^[11]

Since 2018, Akin has been the co-host (alongside Dom Bettinelli) of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, a podcast examining mysteries in the areas of the paranormal and true crime.^[12][13]

Works

• "A Triumph and a Tragedy" in Surprised By Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic (Basilica Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0964261082)
• The Salvation Controversy (Catholic Answers Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1888992182)
• The Nightmare World of Jack Chick (Catholic Answers Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1933919171)
• The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to Early Christian Teaching (Catholic Answers Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1933919348)
• "Anti-Catholicism" in Disorientation: How to Go to College Without Losing Your Mind (Ascension Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1934217948)
• Mass Revision: How the Liturgy Is Changing and What It Means for You (Ignatius Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1933919454)
• Mass Appeal: The ABCs of Worship (Catholic Answers Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1888992328)
• The Drama of Salvation: How God Rescues You from Your Sins and Delivers You to Eternal Life (Catholic Answers Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1941663127)
• A Daily Defense: 365 Days (plus one) to Becoming a Better Apologist (Catholic Answers Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1683570042)
• Teaching with Authority: How to Cut Through Doctrinal Confusion & Understand What the Church Really Says (Catholic Answers Press, 2018, ISBN 978-1683570943)
• The Bible Is A Catholic Book (Catholic Answers Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1683571414)

References

1. "About Jimmy Akin". YouTube.
2. "Jimmy Akin". Catholic Answers. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
3. "Jimmy Akin - NCRegister". www.ncregister.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
4. Madrid, Patrick (2018). Surprised By Truth : 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic. Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid. Rancho Santa Fe: TAN Books. ISBN 978-1-5051-1207-8. OCLC 1056070008.
5. "Reincarnation (and Bridey Murphy)". Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World. April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
6. "A Triumph and a Tragedy". Jimmy Akin. 1994. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
7. "Profile Jimmy Akin Staff Apologist". Catholic Answers. July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
8. "What Are My Qualifications? – Jimmy Akin". May 2, 2006. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
9. "Jimmy Akin". Catholic Answers. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
10. Hansen, Collin (February 8, 2010). "Why Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself". Christianity Today. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
11. Jensen, Kurt (October 31, 2016). "Rabid anti-Catholic views of late pamphleteer kept him marginalized". Catholic Philly. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
12. Miller, Jeffrey (August 10, 2018). "The Catholic Weird and Mysterious". Splendor of Truth. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
13. Little, K. Albert (April 17, 2019). "Is the Origin of Easter Based on Ancient Pagan Gods?". Patheos. Retrieved April 19, 2020.