Jimmy Akin was born in Texas and raised as a Protestant. At the age of 20, he experienced a conversion to Christ and planned on becoming a Protestant minister or seminary professor. In time, Jimmy became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and was "under care of session" toward becoming a Protestant minister.As Akin explains in Surprised by Truth (Patrick Madrid, ed., Basilica Press, 1994), reprinted as "A Triumph and a Tragedy" in This Rock (April 1995), his attitude began to change when he read a paper written by a convert to Catholicism; a convert who used to attend the same Protestant church where Akin worshiped.

There was one passage in the paper that made me squirm... "Most of the Catholic distinctives that are criticized by our Evangelical brothers are rooted in taking Scripture at face value." This claim shocked my Protestant sensibilities.

After studying the Scripture Akin became convinced to convert to the Catholic faith, and he soon entered the Catholic Church. He was received into the Catholic Church in the hospital room of his wife, Renee, who died of cancer in the early 1990s, while the two were still in their twenties.

Renee helped give me the gift of Catholicism because as a result of my marriage to her I studied Catholic theology harder than I otherwise would have. Even though I was studying it so I could try to pull her out of the Church, it was that very study which led me to recognize that the Catholic faith is the faith of the Bible.

Akin serves as the Director of Apologetics and Evangelization for Catholic Answers. He has authored hundreds of articles and other publications for the organizations and related ones, such as Ignatius Press. He is a weekly guest in the national radio program Catholic Answers Live.

In addition to his work at Catholic Answers, Akin maintains a blog . On his blog Akin answers questions dealing with Catholic apologetics, theology, canon law, moral theology, liturgy, and scriptural studies. He also deals with many other topics of interest to him, including science, humor, science fiction, and current affairs.