Verbum mentis – vox clamantis: the notion of mental word in 12th century theology

In this essay I call attention to the analogy which has been suggested not only by the fathers but also by some twelfth-century masters between the sensible expression of an inner word and two events of sacred history: the creation and the preaching of John the Baptist. Secondly, I shall stress the relevance of some twelfth- century theological texts from the point of view of the assimilation of theories coming from the logica vetus in a theological context marked by the use of the notion of inner word.