In the early 1970s the theology faculty of the University of Navarre embarked on the project of making a new Spanish translation of the Bible—a volume accompanied by commentary designed for the general reader. This project was entrusted to the faculty by St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei and the university’s first chancellor. The first volume, St. Matthew, appeared in 1976; the project was completed February 2005. The Navarre Bible series is considered by many the best Catholic commentary on the Bible available today.
The main feature of the English edition of the Navarre Bible, Standard Edition is the commentary. More comprehensive than the The Navarre Bible: New Testament, this volume features notes and introductions—rarely very technical—designed to illuminate the spiritual and theological message of the Bible. The Standard Edition is replete with quotations from commentaries by the Fathers, as well as excerpts from other spiritual writers—not least among them, St. Josemaría Escrivá—provided to show how they read Scripture and made it meaningful in their lives.