Jimmy Akin (born in 1965, Corpus Christi,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

) is an American

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

convert,

apologist Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

with

Catholic Answers Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. It describes itself as the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes ''Catholic Answers Magazine'', a b ...

, and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

host.

Biography

Born in 1965 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jimmy Akin grew up in Fayetteville,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. As a child, he attended services at the local Church of Christ with his parents but became interested in the

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

movement as a teenager. During his time in college, Akin encountered the preaching of the

televangelist Televangelism ( tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning " ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are ministers, whether official or self-pr ...

Eugene "Gene" Scott and became a Christian, finding a denominational home in the conservative

Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presb ...

, and wanted to be a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

or seminary professor. 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 1991 and Akin soon after converted to Catholicism in 1992. Later that year, Humphrey died of colon cancer. He is a senior apologist for

. Akin defended charges that

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

engaged in

self-flagellation Self-flagellation is the disciplinary and devotional practice of flogging oneself with whips or other instruments that inflict pain. In Christianity, self-flagellation is practiced in the context of the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh ...

, writing, "Self-mortification teaches humility by making us recognize that there are things more important than our own pleasure." Akin said that while

Chick tract Chick tracts are short evangelical gospel tracts, originally created by American publisher and religious cartoonist Jack Chick in the 1960s. His company Chick Publications has continued to print these tracts, in addition to those by new writer ...

s were inaccurate, he thought they brought some people to God. Since 2018, Akin has been the co-host (alongside Dom Bettinelli) of "Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World", a podcast examining mysteries and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

from a Catholic perspective. Akin debated New Testament critic

Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...

on the historical reliability of the Gospels in March 2022.

Works

* "A Triumph and a Tragedy" in ''Surprised By Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic'' (Basilica Press, 1994, ) * ''The Salvation Controversy'' ( Catholic Answers Press, 2001, ) * ''The Nightmare World of Jack Chick'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2008, ) * ''The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to Early Christian Teaching'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2010, ) * "Anti-Catholicism" in ''Disorientation: How to Go to College Without Losing Your Mind'' ( Ascension Press, 2010, ) * ''Mass Revision: How the Liturgy Is Changing and What It Means for You'' (

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic publishing house based in San Francisco, California, US. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press also produces '' Catholic World Report'' ...

, 2011, ) * ''Mass Appeal: The ABCs of Worship'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2012, ) * ''The Drama of Salvation: How God Rescues You from Your Sins and Delivers You to Eternal Life'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2015, ) * ''A Daily Defense: 365 Days (plus one) to Becoming a Better Apologist'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2016, ) * ''Teaching with Authority: How to Cut Through Doctrinal Confusion & Understand What the Church Really Says'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2018, ) * ''The Bible Is A Catholic Book'' (Catholic Answers Press, 2019, )

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, Jimmy American Roman Catholic religious writers Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism 1965 births Living people People from Corpus Christi, Texas American podcasters