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 ("I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand").
The phrase credo ut intelligam is often associated with Anselm's other famous phrase fides quaerens intellectum[2] ("faith seeking understanding").
The phrase is based on a sentence of Augustine of Hippo (crede ut intellegas,[3] "believe so that you may understand")[4] [5] 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]
. Reinhard Hütter . Bound for Beatitude. A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics . 2019 . . Washington, D.C. . 978-0-81323181-5 . 196.