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Credo ut intelligam
Sentence of Anselm of Canterbury From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Credo ut intelligam, alternatively spelled credo ut intellegam, is a Latin sentence of Anselm of Canterbury (Proslogion, 1). The sentence is a reference to Isaiah 7:9.[1] The sentence translates as: "I believe so that I may understand".
In Anselm's writing, it is placed in juxtaposition to its converse, intellego ut credam ("I think so that I may believe"), when he says Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam[1][2] ("I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand").[2]
The phrase credo ut intelligam is often associated with Anselm's other famous phrase fides quaerens intellectum[3][2] ("faith seeking understanding").[2]
The phrase is based on a sentence of Augustine of Hippo (crede ut intellegas,[4] lit. "believe so that you may understand")[5][2] to relate faith and reason. Augustine understood the saying to mean that a person must believe in something in order to know anything about God.[6] This sentence by Augustine is also inspired from Isaiah 7:9.[7]
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