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And the Sea Was No More: Reading the Bible in the Deep
Being overwhelmed is not spiritual failure; it’s part of being a creature.When panic attacks shattered his world, leaving him drowning in a chaos he couldn’t name, biblical scholar Dave Nienhuis discovered something Scripture itself offered language for his anguish. The Bible’s recurring image of the catastrophic Deep―the watery chaos that threatens to overwhelm―spoke for him when he had no words of his own.Both confession and Bible study, And the Sea Was No More traces the image of the Deep through Scripture, from the Spirit hovering over primordial waters in Genesis to Revelation’s vision of a time when the sea will cease to exist. Through childhood trauma and EMDR therapy, through the Psalms and the prophets, through Job’s complaints and Jesus asleep in the storm, Nienhuis discovers that God meets us not above the chaos but within it.This is biblical scholarship written from the body―theology that knows how to flinch, exegesis shaped by trauma, faith that has learned to breathe again after being sucker-punched by the Deep. Writing as both a scholar and a sufferer, Nienhuis offers no explanations for suffering but gives readers permission to cry “How long, O Lord?” without shame.For anyone overwhelmed―by trauma, grief, illness, anxiety, depression, or simply the weight of living in a troubled world―And the Sea Was No More offers both a lifeline and a liturgy. And it reveals that the only way through the Deep is to follow the slaughtered Lamb who went down into the waters and came out the other side, scarred and singing, follow me.“When we cry out
How long, O Lord?
we’re confessing something very important about us, and about God. . . . We proclaim to the world that an end is in fact coming. The crying won’t last forever.”
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 22, 2026
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Review of advance copy received from Author
This book is many things at once, which makes it difficult to categorize. It is not a devotional, yet it can certainly be read devotionally. It is not a scholarly work in the conventional sense, yet the author’s scholarly expertise—biblical, historical, literary, and linguistic—is visible in every paragraph. It is, at its core, a deeply personal memoir. It is vulnerable, introspective, and willing to go into territory most of us prefer to leave unnamed. Because it is personal, it can plumb depths that a purely academic work never could. Because of Nienhuis’s academic rigor, that personal exploration never drifts; it remains firmly rooted in the biblical narrative it is attempting to unpack.
Underlying the entire book are hard questions that many of us carry but rarely voice out loud: How can I take the Bible seriously after everything that has happened to me? How can Scripture still be relevant given the state of the world? How could a good God…? These are not abstract theological puzzles. They are the kinds of questions that surface after debilitating trauma, after the problem of evil has stopped being theoretical, or if you’ve experienced damage that was inflicted by a religious community. Nienhuis does not dodge them. He walks straight into them.
My own background makes the book’s effect on me especially poignant. My father and grandfather were both pastors. I have seven years of formal biblical education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including Greek study and seminary. Yet over time I have grown weary (you might say jaded) of the usual conversations about “how to apply the Bible to my life” or “what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.” As I read this book I could feel a quiet resentment building within me, and I found myself thinking, “Dammit, Nienhuis, you’re making me care again!”
That is the book’s peculiar brilliance. While telling the reader that the Bible can still be read faithfully despite what has happened to us, Nienhuis simultaneously implies that we should be reading it *because* of what has happened to us—and then, remarkably — demonstrates through his own handling of Scripture exactly how such a reading can be done. Considering that it is a book about the Bible, it is not surprising that it is drenched in scripture, it is dripping with it. You will see passages in relation to other scripture that you had not considered before, or interpreted in contexts that might surprise you. It is a kind of Venn diagram of the personal, the traumatic, the historical, the linguistic, the literary, and the biblical. Nienhuis stands at that overlapping center and draws connections most of us have likely never seen.
As a canonical scholar, he shows why the books included in the Bible, the order in which they appear, and the content of each one actually matter to the larger narrative. Along the way he describes being lost and adrift in ways only someone who has been lost and adrift could, he presents the need for redemption in language that felt new, and he provides a vision of the kingdom of God and the gospel that cracked open what I thought were familiar concepts as though I were encountering them for the first time.
The result is a book that nourishes in a way that neither pure devotionals nor pure scholarship have managed for me in the past. It made me pick up the Bible again—and, more remarkably, want to. It renewed my curiosity in part because Nienhuis faces, without flinching, the very questions and experiences that have driven so many away from faith. He does so with academic integrity and with the depth those difficult realities deserve. The combination of intellectual prowess and genuine faith is the book’s special sauce. You will find no easy or pat answers. What does it mean to “accept Christ”? What does it mean to be a Christian beyond going to heaven when you die? Is it intellectually honest to take the Bible seriously? What does “Bible-believing” even mean? Should I go to church? These are among the questions the book takes on while remaining both incredibly honest and faithful.
Another distinctive quality is the way Nienhuis creates clarity by naming ambiguity. He refuses the comforting (but false) claim that the Bible is everywhere clear and unambiguous. At the same time he refuses the reverse move: treating as ambiguous those passages that are in fact quite clear, simply because it’s easier than taking such passages seriously. I felt legitimately called out many times throughout, and I am grateful for it. When I finished the book, the first thing I did was turn back to page one and begin reading it again. I do not remember the last time a book made me do that.
Interestingly, one of the most unexpected moments I experienced with this book actually came before I had even begun reading the main text. Just reading the table of contents moved me to tears. For some reason I was blindsided. Only later did I realize just how malnourished I had become. To see named — and brought into the light — subject matter I had kept safely buried in the dark recesses of my own heart broke something, a barrier of some kind, that I did not know was there. My highest compliment would be to say the book feels archetypal—like grabbing a live wire.
I can recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered whether Scripture can still be approached, interacted with, or incorporated into a life that has been marked by trauma, by the unfettered problem of evil, or by negative experiences from within religious communities. Whether you currently identify as a believer or an unbeliever, if you are willing to take the text of scripture seriously and to wrestle honestly with what a meaningful response to it might look like, this is an exceptionally strong place to begin.
Underlying the entire book are hard questions that many of us carry but rarely voice out loud: How can I take the Bible seriously after everything that has happened to me? How can Scripture still be relevant given the state of the world? How could a good God…? These are not abstract theological puzzles. They are the kinds of questions that surface after debilitating trauma, after the problem of evil has stopped being theoretical, or if you’ve experienced damage that was inflicted by a religious community. Nienhuis does not dodge them. He walks straight into them.
My own background makes the book’s effect on me especially poignant. My father and grandfather were both pastors. I have seven years of formal biblical education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including Greek study and seminary. Yet over time I have grown weary (you might say jaded) of the usual conversations about “how to apply the Bible to my life” or “what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.” As I read this book I could feel a quiet resentment building within me, and I found myself thinking, “Dammit, Nienhuis, you’re making me care again!”
That is the book’s peculiar brilliance. While telling the reader that the Bible can still be read faithfully despite what has happened to us, Nienhuis simultaneously implies that we should be reading it *because* of what has happened to us—and then, remarkably — demonstrates through his own handling of Scripture exactly how such a reading can be done. Considering that it is a book about the Bible, it is not surprising that it is drenched in scripture, it is dripping with it. You will see passages in relation to other scripture that you had not considered before, or interpreted in contexts that might surprise you. It is a kind of Venn diagram of the personal, the traumatic, the historical, the linguistic, the literary, and the biblical. Nienhuis stands at that overlapping center and draws connections most of us have likely never seen.
As a canonical scholar, he shows why the books included in the Bible, the order in which they appear, and the content of each one actually matter to the larger narrative. Along the way he describes being lost and adrift in ways only someone who has been lost and adrift could, he presents the need for redemption in language that felt new, and he provides a vision of the kingdom of God and the gospel that cracked open what I thought were familiar concepts as though I were encountering them for the first time.
The result is a book that nourishes in a way that neither pure devotionals nor pure scholarship have managed for me in the past. It made me pick up the Bible again—and, more remarkably, want to. It renewed my curiosity in part because Nienhuis faces, without flinching, the very questions and experiences that have driven so many away from faith. He does so with academic integrity and with the depth those difficult realities deserve. The combination of intellectual prowess and genuine faith is the book’s special sauce. You will find no easy or pat answers. What does it mean to “accept Christ”? What does it mean to be a Christian beyond going to heaven when you die? Is it intellectually honest to take the Bible seriously? What does “Bible-believing” even mean? Should I go to church? These are among the questions the book takes on while remaining both incredibly honest and faithful.
Another distinctive quality is the way Nienhuis creates clarity by naming ambiguity. He refuses the comforting (but false) claim that the Bible is everywhere clear and unambiguous. At the same time he refuses the reverse move: treating as ambiguous those passages that are in fact quite clear, simply because it’s easier than taking such passages seriously. I felt legitimately called out many times throughout, and I am grateful for it. When I finished the book, the first thing I did was turn back to page one and begin reading it again. I do not remember the last time a book made me do that.
Interestingly, one of the most unexpected moments I experienced with this book actually came before I had even begun reading the main text. Just reading the table of contents moved me to tears. For some reason I was blindsided. Only later did I realize just how malnourished I had become. To see named — and brought into the light — subject matter I had kept safely buried in the dark recesses of my own heart broke something, a barrier of some kind, that I did not know was there. My highest compliment would be to say the book feels archetypal—like grabbing a live wire.
I can recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered whether Scripture can still be approached, interacted with, or incorporated into a life that has been marked by trauma, by the unfettered problem of evil, or by negative experiences from within religious communities. Whether you currently identify as a believer or an unbeliever, if you are willing to take the text of scripture seriously and to wrestle honestly with what a meaningful response to it might look like, this is an exceptionally strong place to begin.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was one of a small number blessed to attend all three of the author’s presentations that were related to this topic at a Texas retreat center in 2022 and 2023. I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this book. After reading it, I am certainly not disappointed!
I think almost everyone has experienced some form of childhood trauma or other type of horror. Using the metaphor of water or “the Deep”, the author reveals his long journey through a sea of enormous stress. “Sooner or later, all of us will be tossed into the water. When that happens, God may send someone walking across the waves calling I’ll go with you”… “Jesus has come to be rejected and killed. He has come to throw himself into the Deep, because if he doesn’t, none of us will ever find the way out.”
This book reveals an amazing story of buried childhood trauma that engulfs the author in adulthood. It intersperses multitudes of scriptures which come alive to the reader. I particularly loved the middle section of the book that analyzes the book of Mark. I had always wondered about the healed demoniac in Mark 5. After being healed, he asks to follow Jesus. Jesus refuses this and tells him to go home and be with friends. The author has an intriguing explanation. “I like to imagine Jesus put his hand on the man’s shoulder and looked at him with love and said, my disciples and I have to go back into the Deep, for my work there is not yet complete. But you, my son, you’ve suffered enough. You’ve drowned in the Deep and made it to the other side, and now you should go home to your family and friends. Celebrate what the Lord has done for you. Tell everyone you meet the story of how you were lost in the Deep until someone journeyed through the waters to show you the way out.” Commenting on Mark 9:35-37, the author offers “The God we seek will not be found by looking up, for God hides in the least likely of places, in the world below our line of sight; the world of the weak, and the insignificant, and the overlooked.”
This book is also about how we need others to help us through the Deep. “I spent years begging God to sate my hunger and wipe my tears away, but God didn’t do that for me. Instead, God emerged from within my body and sent Spirit-filled people to teach me how to breathe again. They didn’t call out words of comfort from a safe distance. They met me where God did, in the ruins of my inner sanctuary—and together, we scrubbed the word Alone off the wall.”
The book concludes with one of the best explanations of the book of Revelation (my least favorite book in the Bible) that I have ever encountered.
My life has been filled with traumas and anxiety. Much of my life, I have been in bondage to these realities. This book is an excellent roadmap for navigating the Deep in search of freedom. This is a book of hope and discernment for all who suffer in the Deep.
I think almost everyone has experienced some form of childhood trauma or other type of horror. Using the metaphor of water or “the Deep”, the author reveals his long journey through a sea of enormous stress. “Sooner or later, all of us will be tossed into the water. When that happens, God may send someone walking across the waves calling I’ll go with you”… “Jesus has come to be rejected and killed. He has come to throw himself into the Deep, because if he doesn’t, none of us will ever find the way out.”
This book reveals an amazing story of buried childhood trauma that engulfs the author in adulthood. It intersperses multitudes of scriptures which come alive to the reader. I particularly loved the middle section of the book that analyzes the book of Mark. I had always wondered about the healed demoniac in Mark 5. After being healed, he asks to follow Jesus. Jesus refuses this and tells him to go home and be with friends. The author has an intriguing explanation. “I like to imagine Jesus put his hand on the man’s shoulder and looked at him with love and said, my disciples and I have to go back into the Deep, for my work there is not yet complete. But you, my son, you’ve suffered enough. You’ve drowned in the Deep and made it to the other side, and now you should go home to your family and friends. Celebrate what the Lord has done for you. Tell everyone you meet the story of how you were lost in the Deep until someone journeyed through the waters to show you the way out.” Commenting on Mark 9:35-37, the author offers “The God we seek will not be found by looking up, for God hides in the least likely of places, in the world below our line of sight; the world of the weak, and the insignificant, and the overlooked.”
This book is also about how we need others to help us through the Deep. “I spent years begging God to sate my hunger and wipe my tears away, but God didn’t do that for me. Instead, God emerged from within my body and sent Spirit-filled people to teach me how to breathe again. They didn’t call out words of comfort from a safe distance. They met me where God did, in the ruins of my inner sanctuary—and together, we scrubbed the word Alone off the wall.”
The book concludes with one of the best explanations of the book of Revelation (my least favorite book in the Bible) that I have ever encountered.
My life has been filled with traumas and anxiety. Much of my life, I have been in bondage to these realities. This book is an excellent roadmap for navigating the Deep in search of freedom. This is a book of hope and discernment for all who suffer in the Deep.
October 15, 2026
5/5 STARS! WOW, I’m blown away by this one! A 5 star read for sure. Written by a theologian, this provides a very knowledgeable but emotional experience on anxiety and suffering & why that’s a part of being a Christian. Very interesting and unique takes, & very eye opening on things I’ve never noticed before in the Bible. Absolutely brilliant read that any Christian struggling through life can relate to. A must read!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
If you, like me, crave authenticity and vulnerability in a world of carefully curated crap, this book is for you. After all, what could be more authentic than a face-to-face reckoning with one’s own trauma? Such an effort takes bravery, grit, and, above all, honesty.
The Deep—the metaphor used to describe Dave’s experience of catastrophic overwhelm—is not arbitrary but scriptural. And lest you assume the book will echo the religious platitudes Christians often serve one another in times of crisis, have no fear. Rather than trivializing his pain—or the pain of others—the metaphor names it for what it really is. In doing so, it opens the door just enough to let the Light stream in.
Just as the book resists being categorized as any one thing, so too does its author. I first knew him as Dr. Nienhuis, my theology professor, but over the years I have come to know him as Dave, my friend and fellow sufferer of chronic illness. In this beautiful book, I hear both voices singing in harmony.
Dr. Nienhuis, the biblical scholar, offers his expertise to Dave, the sufferer; together, they learn to dance to the music of Scripture. As “deep calls to deep,” this book offers itself as a companion to those who find themselves sojourning through the waters. Together, they will make the journey—and rejoice at last to greet the day when “the sea was no more.”
The Deep—the metaphor used to describe Dave’s experience of catastrophic overwhelm—is not arbitrary but scriptural. And lest you assume the book will echo the religious platitudes Christians often serve one another in times of crisis, have no fear. Rather than trivializing his pain—or the pain of others—the metaphor names it for what it really is. In doing so, it opens the door just enough to let the Light stream in.
Just as the book resists being categorized as any one thing, so too does its author. I first knew him as Dr. Nienhuis, my theology professor, but over the years I have come to know him as Dave, my friend and fellow sufferer of chronic illness. In this beautiful book, I hear both voices singing in harmony.
Dr. Nienhuis, the biblical scholar, offers his expertise to Dave, the sufferer; together, they learn to dance to the music of Scripture. As “deep calls to deep,” this book offers itself as a companion to those who find themselves sojourning through the waters. Together, they will make the journey—and rejoice at last to greet the day when “the sea was no more.”
September 26, 2026
Explore the Deep
This book is so beautifully written and rings so true. Water, breath, earth showing us the God who is with us in the Deep.
This book is so beautifully written and rings so true. Water, breath, earth showing us the God who is with us in the Deep.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Dr. Nienhuis deftly details the sweeping story of God’s redeeming love – creation, fall redemption and renewal. He does so with exceptional care to detail throughout the Biblical canon. From Genesis to Job, to the Psalms, to the Gospels and culminating in John’s Revelation, with stops in between, we read how God was and is present with us in the Waters, the Deep and the Dark.
The journey interweaves Dr. Nienhuis’ story of physical, emotional and spiritual pain with honest Biblical theology.
Hw reminds us that complaint is essential to confession of faith in the Triune God. Not because the Waters, the Deep and the Dark are gone but because we have hope going through them.
In the book, Dr. Nienhuis does not settle for detached theologizing about pain and suffering nor does he settle for a narcissistic atheism.
I once heard Ivan Illich (author of Deschooling Society and defrocked Catholic Priest) address two individuals who made comments in a discussion. One person was a college student who spoke of his doubts and pain in the light of life experience. The other was a PhD in Old Testament who shared his doubts and intellectual quibbles via theodicy. Illich turned to the student and said, “You have courage.” He then turned to the professor and said, “You are a coward.”
There is nothing cowardly about Nienhuis’ memoir. And there is nothing simplistic or reductionistic. With amazing skill and insight, he carefully and faithfully reads Scripture and finds both reality and hope. With honesty he speaks to his own pain and anxiety wondering what God is up to, if anything. “God does not save us from the waters of chaos; God leads us to them and through them so we can come out the other side.”
What one finds here is intellectual, emotional and spiritual honesty shaped by Scripture and experience. Here one finds hope and clarity in the midst of the Dark and Deep. I for one, have little tolerance for sloppy agape or psychobabble when addressing the more painful realities of life. Nor do I have tolerance for sloppy agape or psychobabble when speaking of the Lord and God of all who created us and redeems us. This book is cosmic biblical theology. It begins with lived experience and honestly moves to the Lord and Savior of not only human beings but all of creation throughout all of history.
I am a seventy-two-year-old who grew up in a Christian home, received a theological education, pastored and taught in a theological school for most of my career. This book stands out as one of the most honest and most hopeful reflections on life and Christian faith that I have read. Thank you, Dr. Nienhuis.
The journey interweaves Dr. Nienhuis’ story of physical, emotional and spiritual pain with honest Biblical theology.
Hw reminds us that complaint is essential to confession of faith in the Triune God. Not because the Waters, the Deep and the Dark are gone but because we have hope going through them.
In the book, Dr. Nienhuis does not settle for detached theologizing about pain and suffering nor does he settle for a narcissistic atheism.
I once heard Ivan Illich (author of Deschooling Society and defrocked Catholic Priest) address two individuals who made comments in a discussion. One person was a college student who spoke of his doubts and pain in the light of life experience. The other was a PhD in Old Testament who shared his doubts and intellectual quibbles via theodicy. Illich turned to the student and said, “You have courage.” He then turned to the professor and said, “You are a coward.”
There is nothing cowardly about Nienhuis’ memoir. And there is nothing simplistic or reductionistic. With amazing skill and insight, he carefully and faithfully reads Scripture and finds both reality and hope. With honesty he speaks to his own pain and anxiety wondering what God is up to, if anything. “God does not save us from the waters of chaos; God leads us to them and through them so we can come out the other side.”
What one finds here is intellectual, emotional and spiritual honesty shaped by Scripture and experience. Here one finds hope and clarity in the midst of the Dark and Deep. I for one, have little tolerance for sloppy agape or psychobabble when addressing the more painful realities of life. Nor do I have tolerance for sloppy agape or psychobabble when speaking of the Lord and God of all who created us and redeems us. This book is cosmic biblical theology. It begins with lived experience and honestly moves to the Lord and Savior of not only human beings but all of creation throughout all of history.
I am a seventy-two-year-old who grew up in a Christian home, received a theological education, pastored and taught in a theological school for most of my career. This book stands out as one of the most honest and most hopeful reflections on life and Christian faith that I have read. Thank you, Dr. Nienhuis.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was browsing Netgalley and came across this book by Dave Nienhuis. I was immediately intrigued and was curious by the description. It was ve relatable. I mean we will all fresh with the anxiety of life and we'll all need to freak with death and likely some varying depths of depression whether firsthand or second. These traumas are "the deep" that Dave refers to in this book. He uses the water as a reference that i think will nature it easy for us all to relate and understand. As we deal with the turbulent waters of life, His will send us Jesus ti elf across that water and extend us ah hand and walk beside us in our journeys.
This is Daves story from childhood to adulthood. I could see myself in Dave's story. It was so relatable throughout his journey. This book will nashe you stop and really think and do some evaluating while guiding you on how to as well.
A big thanks to Netgalley andthe publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date 9/22/26
This is Daves story from childhood to adulthood. I could see myself in Dave's story. It was so relatable throughout his journey. This book will nashe you stop and really think and do some evaluating while guiding you on how to as well.
A big thanks to Netgalley andthe publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date 9/22/26
Review of advance copy received from Author
This book is a revelation in so many ways! It's a deeply personal memoir of trauma and survival...both harrowing and profoundly inspiring. It is also a breathtaking journey through the Bible, exploring a little-understood thread - The Deep - that runs from Genesis to Revelation. Those two strong strands are woven together so beautifully, and with lessons that are relevant to any reader.
Dave Nienhuis is a noted bible scholar and teacher, and his writing is simply beautiful. Lively, approachable, really funny in spots. I learned so much, and enjoyed it immensely.
Dave Nienhuis is a noted bible scholar and teacher, and his writing is simply beautiful. Lively, approachable, really funny in spots. I learned so much, and enjoyed it immensely.
Review of advance copy
A beautiful, honest, profound reflection about the reality of pain and darkness in the world, and the reality of God's companionship and help as we navigate such pain and darkness. It's hard to classify this book--a memoir, certainly--but also part biblical studies, part theological reflection, part literary essay, and that it does not neatly fit into a single category is one of the book's strengths! Another strength is that if you have ever felt overwhelmed by fear and grief, this book, and Nienhuis himself, will be a helpful and encouraging guide.
Review of advance copy received from Author
i’m SO looking forward to the publication of this book. i am currently in one of Dr. Nienhuis’ classes and he is a great teacher and discussion facilitator. he poses questions that truly make me think and dig into the heart of my faith, and renew what i think i know. i recommend the concise guides he’s written as accessible and easily digestible sources to check in with head of this release.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Such a gift to read and savor an advanced release copy of this book. A compelling memoir and an honest engagement with Scripture that opened up new ways for me to encounter Scripture, pray, and experience my own wanderings in the deep. Thank you Dave!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews