BTW . . .

There’s going to be a Big Announcement at the top of today’s Catholic Answers Live.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

25 thoughts on “BTW . . .”

  1. Though absent from Time, an anonymous source has informed Catholic Answers that Jimmy Akin is a leading candidate to replace Pope John Paul II. Vatican officials had no comment. Off the record, a Western European carndinal expressed distress. He was concerned that progressive religious and secular orders would not be welcome under a Jimmy Akin pontificate. Emily’s List issued a press release encouraging faithful Catholics, particularily sisters, to offer financial support and not be discouraged by this “rumor.” Orthodox Catholics were generally encouraged. They did caution that “Howdie” and “y’all” may be misunderstand as Latin by poorly educated youth due to the frequency Mr. Akin is expected to use these words in formal addresses.

  2. Jack Chick has decided to join your staff!
    BTW, can somebody who listens to the show tip the rest of us off to what the actual announcement is? I don’t have Catholic radio here.

  3. Tim Staples is now an employee of Catholic Answers.
    That was the announcement. 🙂

  4. D.U.P., no, Catholic Answers has more career-longevity than Enterprise. But I’m available to do pickup work as a creative consultant or script writer if they want me.
    Anon: Actually, as subsequent events revealed, Staples are now adequately supplied. Send money anyway, tho. (Gotta pay his salary.)
    iClaudius: Only if the pod people get me.
    BillyHW: Sorry, not this time.
    Michael Forrest: Actually, Latin has a word for “Y’all,” as do Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and about every other language but English. Jesus says “Y’all” *constantly* in the Greek gospels.
    Sushi: Not in this universe.
    Jason: Only if the pod people get *him.*
    Great guesses, guys!

  5. Cool . . . I’ve never read Tim Staples, but my brother Nathan (youngest Catholic convert of the Blosser crowd) speaks highly of his work. Gotta check him out. =)
    (Jimmy Akin turns Hasidic . . . hmmmmm — I’m trying to picture him with peyos)

  6. Nope: “Thee,” “thou,” or “thy” are the *familiar* second person pronouns (equivalent to “tu” in Spanish or “du” in German), which have long fallen out of common usage. “You,” “you,” and “your” are the formal.

  7. The plot concerning ye/you/thou/thee, I’ve found, is thicker than one would expect:

    You may have been told that “thou” and “thee” were for familiar use, and “you” and “ye” were formal. This was not true originally, but it was true for about two centuries, roughly 1450-1650, including Shakespeare’s time. The previously plural “you” was used in the singular to signify politeness and respect, which left “thou” and “thee” for all the other singular uses, ranging from endearing intimacy to bitter rudeness. Eventually, the politer “you” drove out nearly all uses of “thee” and “thou”; they survived mostly in poetry and religion.

  8. Sean: Tim is a staff apologist with us. His duties for now will consist primarily of giving talks (call 619-387-7200 to arrange for him speak at your parish!) and recording audio tapes. He’ll also be doing some writing and radio.

  9. There’ll be more info on him on catholic.com soon, but I’m still having it copyedited.

  10. Mike and Noah, check and Old English grammaar. The familiar/formal distinction is a recent decay of the original that I cited above. Tolkien, for what it is worth, understood and used it as I mentioned.

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