{{Short description|American Catholic apologist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}} {{infobox youtuber | header-color = | name = Jimmy Akin | logo_caption = | image = Jimmyakinvsbartehrmandebate2022.jpg | image_size = | alt = | image_caption = Akin providing a rebuttal during his 2022 debate with Bart Ehrman. | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|8|24}} | birth_place = Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | education = | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | signature_size = | website = | pseudonym = | youtube_id = UCX430kXiW2whSzf5BG3hLpQ | youtube_display_name = Jimmy Akin
| youtube_years_active = 2009-present | youtube_genre = | youtube_subscribers = 114 thousand<!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT UPDATING stats_update BELOW --> | youtube_views = 13.7 million<!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT UPDATING stats_update BELOW --> | stats_update = December 9, 2025 }}
'''Jimmy Akin''' (born 24 August 1965) is an American Catholic apologist. He has been working for Catholic Answers<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jimmy Akin |url=https://www.catholic.com/profile/jimmy-akin |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=Catholic Answers}}</ref> since 1993 and is their longest-serving staff member.
Akin is a weekly guest on the national radio program ''Catholic Answers Live'', and regular contributor to ''Catholic Answers Magazine''. Since 2018, Akin has been the co-host of ''Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World'', a podcast examining mysteries in the areas of the paranormal and true crime.
==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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jimmy Akin - NCRegister |url=https://www.ncregister.com/author/jimmy-akin |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=www.ncregister.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Madrid |first=Patrick |title=Surprised By Truth : 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic. |date=2018 |publisher=TAN Books |others=Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid |isbn=978-1-5051-1207-8 |location=Rancho Santa Fe |oclc=1056070008}}</ref> He also worked as a Pro-Life activist prior to working for Catholic Answers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://crisismagazine.com/podcast/the-church-doesnt-teach-what-you-think-it-does-guest-jimmy-akin |title=The Church Doesn't Teach What You Think It Does (Guest: Jimmy Akin) |date=May 17, 2024 }}</ref>
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, Humphrey reverted to Catholicism and resumed practicing the faith. They were married in 1988; later that year, Humphrey died of colon cancer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reincarnation (and Bridey Murphy) |url=https://sqpn.com/2020/04/reincarnation-bridey-murphy/ |website=Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World |date=10 April 2020 |access-date=April 19, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=A Triumph and a Tragedy |url=https://jimmyakin.com/a-triumph-and-a-tragedy |website=Jimmy Akin |date=1994 |access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref>
===Career=== He is the senior apologist for Catholic Answers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 21, 2024 |title=Profile Jimmy Akin Staff Apologist |url=https://www.catholic.com/profile/jimmy-akin |access-date=July 21, 2024 |website=Catholic Answers}}</ref> While his academic training is in philosophy, he also claims to be an autodidact, who has managed to acquire an extensive background in apologetics, biblical studies, theology, liturgy, canon law, and related disciplines.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-05-02 |title=What Are My Qualifications? – Jimmy Akin |url=https://jimmyakin.com/2006/05/what_are_my_qua.html |access-date=2023-09-23 }}</ref>
Akin is a weekly guest on the national radio program ''Catholic Answers Live'', a regular contributor to ''Catholic Answers Magazine'', and a blogger and podcaster. His personal web site is [http://jimmyakin.com JimmyAkin.com].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jimmy Akin |url=https://www.catholic.com/profile/jimmy-akin |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=Catholic Answers}}</ref>
In 2010, 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."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hansen |first1=Collin |title=Why Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/februaryweb-only/16-11.0.html |access-date=April 19, 2020 |work=Christianity Today |date=February 8, 2010}}</ref> In 2020, Akin said that while Chick tracts were inaccurate, he thought they brought some people to God.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jensen |first1=Kurt |title=Rabid anti-Catholic views of late pamphleteer kept him marginalized |url=https://catholicphilly.com/2016/10/news/national-news/rabid-anti-catholic-views-of-late-pamphleteer-kept-him-marginalized/ |access-date=April 19, 2020 |work=Catholic Philly |date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Jeffrey |date=August 10, 2018 |title=The Catholic Weird and Mysterious |url=http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/2018/08/the-catholic-weird-and-mysterious/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919133514/http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/2018/08/the-catholic-weird-and-mysterious/ |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |access-date=April 19, 2020 |website=Splendor of Truth}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Little |first=K. Albert |date=17 April 2019 |title=Is the Origin of Easter Based on Ancient Pagan Gods? |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/is-the-origin-of-easter-based-on-ancient-pagan-gods/ |access-date=April 19, 2020 |website=Patheos}}</ref>
==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== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, Jimmy}} Category:1965 births Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century Roman Catholics Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Roman Catholics Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American religion and spirituality podcasters Category:American religious writers Category:American Roman Catholic writers Category:Catholic Church in popular culture Category:Christian apologists Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism Category:Living people Category:People from Corpus Christi, Texas Category:Roman Catholic activists Category:University of Arkansas alumni