Gonzalo Aranda, Full Professor Emeritus of the School of Theology at the University of Navarra, has died at the University Clinic of the same name after a long illness. After his years of training in the seminar He was ordained a priest on July 16, 1967. A few months later he moved to Pamplona to fill in their programs of study of Theology, being one of the students of the first class of the then Theological Institute of the University of Navarra, the germ of the current School of Theology.

In 1969 he joined department as a professor at Sacred Scripture. He received his doctorate in Theology in 1972 and the following year he obtained the licentiate degree in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Commission (Rome). In 1977 he received his doctorate in Trilingual Biblical Philology from the Complutense University of Madrid. His academic life was centered on two lines of research: the Bible received and read in the Church and the texts in their religious context.

His editions of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark in the Sahidic Coptic version; the translation to Spanish of the Coptic narratives on the Assumption of the Virgin; the numerous works on apocalyptic literature and the programs of study on Gnosticism and the origins of Christianity, reflect some of the interests that have made Professor Aranda a reference in the field of national and international exegesis. 

For 47 years he devoted his energies to teaching and research at Sacred Scripture in School of Theology. He was characterized by his wisdom, availability and open-mindedness: there was no opinion or text from which he was not willing to learn. He knew how to put into internship what the founder of the University of Navarra, St. Josemaría Escrivá, wanted for the professors of School: love for theological truth and a sense of service to the Church.

But Gonzalo was not only a university professor. He never stopped combining his academic work with his work as a parish priest in villages near Pamplona, where he left a deep mark. All those who knew him agree in highlighting his great erudition and his great humility. Always available, he also collaborated with the Centro Superior de programs of study Teológicos de Pamplona and with the Centro Regional de programs of study Teológicos de Aragón, in Zaragoza.

In October 2014, at the ceremony of homage that the School paid him on the occasion of his retirement, Professor Aranda pronounced some words that summary the attitude that characterized his work: "The Bible is a monument of cultures, of languages. Its content opens the reader to a transcendence that makes him see its smallness and at the same time its value in the eyes of God. Studying the Bible has led me to appreciate and accept the Church as a recipient of its books and a reader who has known how to interpret them".

Gonzalo Aranda Pérez was born on November 25, 1943 in Torralba de los Frailes (Zaragoza) and died on April 4, 2016 in Pamplona. A priest since 1967, he belonged to the first promotion of School of Theology at the University of Navarra. He dedicated his life to the teaching, to investigate the Sacred Scripture and to be a parish priest in villages near Pamplona.