Tertullian (one of the founders of the Catholic Church) was born
in Carthage somewhere about 160 A.D. He was a pagan, and he
abandoned himself to the lascivious life of his city until about
his 35th year, when he became a Christian .... To him is ascribed
the sublime confession:
Credo quia absurdum est (I believe because
it is absurd). This does not altogether accord with historical
fact, for he merely said:
"And the Son of God died, which is immediately credible
because it is absurd. And buried he rose again, which is
certain because it is impossible."
Thanks to the acuteness of his mind, he saw through the poverty of
philosophical and Gnostic knowledge, and contemptuously rejected
it.
-- C. G. Jung. Psychological Types.