Tuesday, July 11, 2023

The Twin Perspectives of Faith and Reason: Into the Archives

 

The Bible is a Catholic Book (2009, 181 pages) and A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist (2006, 384 pages), by Jimmy Akin.


“In The Bible Is a Catholic Book, Jimmy Akin shows how the Bible cannot exist apart from the church. In its origins and its formulation, in the truths it contains, in its careful preservation over the centuries, and in the prayerful study and elucidation of its mysteries, Scripture is inseparable from Catholicism. This is fitting, since both come from God for our salvation.” _Amazon.

 “Do you want to learn how to defend and explain the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and scores of other truths that we Catholics believe but you don't have a lot of time? Jimmy Akin has done the hard work for you. All you need is five minutes a day. In A Daily Defense, Jimmy compiles 365 challenges that Catholics often hear from skeptics and non-Catholics about God, Jesus, Scripture, morality, Mary, history, and a host of doctrines and teaches you how to answer them. Combining deep learning with decades of experience explaining Catholic belief and practice on a popular level, he cuts to the heart of each subject, offering pithy but powerful replies that are both effective and easy to master. A Daily Defense is perfect reading before bed, for down time or prayer time, part of a regular routine or picked up on the go. Whatever your day is like, reading just a few minutes a day is guaranteed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to defend the Catholic Faith.” – Amazon.

“Born in 1965 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jimmy Akin grew up in FayettevilleArkansas. 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.

“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.

“He is a senior apologist for Catholic Answers. 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.” – Wikipedia.

I only have to add that Jimmy might almost have been designed as an apologist to appeal to me. Having several times been referred to as ‘a cyborg sent from the future to defend the Church’ and ‘probably a Time Lord’, he has a wide knowledge of popular culture and will quote it to help illustrate his explications and analysis of religion or strange phenomena in a logical manner that is punctuated with a rather dry humor. After watching his shows for over a year or more I decided it was about time to invest in a few of his books.

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