Credo quia absurdum

Credo quia absurdum is a Latin phrase that means "I believe because it is absurd", originally misattributed to Tertullian in his De Carne Christi. It is believed to be a paraphrasing of Tertullian's "prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est" which means "it is completely credible because it is unsuitable", or "certum est, quia impossibile" which means "it is certain because it is impossible". These are consistent with the anti-Marcionite context. Early modern, Protestant and Enlightenment rhetoric against Catholicism and religion more broadly resulted in this phrase being changed to "I believe because it is absurd", displaced from its original anti-Marcionite to a personally religious context. The original phrase, before being transmuted through Enlightenment rhetoric to its modern form "I believe because it is absurd", appeared in Tertullian's work De Carne Christi (203–206), read by scholars as "I believe because it is unfitting". The context is a defense of the tenets of orthodox Christianity against docetism: Latin text: et mortuus est dei filius: [prorsus] credibile est, quia ineptum est. et sepultus resurrexit: certum est, quia impossibile. English translation: and the Son of God died; it is [utterly] credible, because it is unfitting; and he was buried and rose again; it is certain, because it is impossible. The consensus of Tertullian scholars is that the reading "I believe because it is absurd" sharply diverges from Tertullian's own thoughts, given the priority placed on reasoned argument and rationality in his writings. In the same work, Tertullian later writes "But here again, I must have some reasons." Elsewhere, he writes that the new Christian “should believe nothing but that nothing should be rashly believed.” Scholars note further examples of where Tertullian acts by following a method of reasoned argument.