Virtus Sermonis and the Trinity: Marsilius of Inghen and the Semantics of Late Fourteenth-Century Theology

The normative use of the Church Fathers and the theologi approbati, who were among the most important auctoritates next to the Scriptures, demonstrates that late-medieval theologians were faithful to tradition. This predilection for tradition was affirmed by, and institutionalized in, the university, where a fixed list of texts was read and commented upon across generations. ¹

Footnotes

¹ The medieval notion of auctoritas and the use of a fixed list of texts is discussed in L. M. de Rijk, La Philosophie au Moyen-Age (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985), pp. 82–105. As to the educational system, see J. Hamesse, ed., Manuels, Programmes de Cours et Techniques d'Enseignement dans les Universités Mediévales (Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut d'Études Médiévales de l'Université Catholique de Louvain, 1994).