Credo quia absurdum

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Credo quia absurdum is a Latin phrase of uncertain origin. It means "I believe because it is absurd." One possible provenance is that it is derived from a poorly remembered or misquoted passage in Tertullian's De Carne Christi defending the tenets of Catholicism against docetism which reads in the original Latin:

Natus est Dei Filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est: et mortuus est Dei Filius; prorsus credible est, quia ineptum est: et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile

(Translation: "The Son of God was born: there is no shame, because it is shameful. And the Son of God died: it is wholly credible, because it is inappropriate. And, buried, He rose again: it is certain, because impossible")

The phrase is normally associated with the doctrine of fideism, that is, a belief in Christianity as set down in the bible, unfettered by logic or rationality. It is sometimes taken to express that the Apostles would not have believed in something as absurd as the resurrection of Jesus Christ had they not seen it firsthand. It has also been used, though often in different interpretations, by some existentialists