German Christian resources . . . James Brainerd Taylor books at Amazon.de . . . Germany trip, February 2010 . . . prayer request

For free online Christian resources translated into German, see the U.S.-based Desiring God and Gospel Coalition web sites by clicking here (Desiring God) and here (Gospel Coalition). Also see the new Gospel Translations web site (est. 2007) and its German page for additional translations.

The founder of Desiring God, John Piper, is an American theologian-pastor-author with a Ph.D. in New Testament from Germany's University of Munich. The Gospel Coaltion (est. 2007) is "a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures."

Though not translated into German, the recent (2008) University Press of America biographies An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening and Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor are available at Germany's Amazon.de (click here for An Uncommon Christian and here for Of Intense Brightness). The books also are available from the publisher's European distributor (click here). Relatedly, the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, est. 1558) in Munich purchased Of Intense Brightness for their over 9-million collection.

See my May 10, 2010, blog post for a report on my visit to Kofering, Germany (and, relatedly, my June 30, 2010 post about my trip to New York City's Ellis Island). It was in the rural Bavarian village of Kofering (8.5 miles south of Regensburg) that my beloved American immigrant grandmother, Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992), was born.

In addition to Kofering, I visited the following towns and cities during my 2-week trip to Germany, February 16 to March 2. Though in the dead of winter, the trip was a nice break from my current 2-year stay in Israel.

Bad Doberan
Former East Germany/DDR, near the Baltic Sea, pop. 11,000
+ Molli (historic late 19th-century steam engine)

Berlin
Capital of Germany, pop. 3.4 million (Germany's largest, European Union's second largest)
+ Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom, built 1451)
+ Brandenburg Gate
+ Checkpoint Charlie (and remnants of the Berlin Wall)
+ DDR Museum (exhibit on what everyday life was like in the former East Germany/DDR)
+ German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum)
+ Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial, inaugurated 2005)
+ Humboldt University (est. 1810, Berlin's oldest university)
+ Pergamon Museum (part of Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999; contains displays of the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon, etc.)
+ Reichstag (Parliament) building
+ TV Tower (Fernsehturm Berlin, 1,207-foot lookout tower near Alexanderplatz)

Gustrow
Former East Germany/DDR, pop. 30,000
+ Castle (Schloss, built 1589 in Renaissance style, residence for the dukes of Mecklenburg)
+ City Museum
+ Dom (Brick Gothic Cathedral, built 1226-1335, includes W.W. I memorial "Hovering Angel" sculpture by local expressionist artist Ernst Barlach)
+ Ernst Barlach Theater
+ Fountain fox and the hedgehog (sculptures at entrance to the town, from a story by local author John Brinkman)
+ Gertrude Chapel (Ernst Barlach Studio)
+ Krippen Museum (North German Nativity Museum, housed in the Holy Spirit Church)
+ St. Mary Church (19th century, Brick Gothic)
+ Town Hall (built 13th century)

Leipzig
Former East Germany/DDR, pop. 519,000
+ Auerbach's Cellar (Auerbachs Keller, 15th century, second oldest restaurant in Leipzig, entrance statues depict scenes from Goethe's tragic play Faust I)
+ Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus, built 1556)
+ St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche, built 1156, Lutheran, bust of Bach, first performance of the St. John Passion play by Bach on Good Friday 1724)
+ St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche, Lutheran, 13th century building, Bach served as cantor [1723-50] and is buried, outside monuments to Bach and Mendelssohm, Martin Luther preached on May 25, 1539)
+ University of Leipzig (est. 1409)

Regensburg
In Bavaria (8.5 miles north of Kofering), pop. 134,000
+ Regensburg Cathedral (Kathedrale St. Peter, Roman Catholic, built 1275-1634)
+ New Parish Church (Neupfarrkirche, Lutheran, built 1519-1863)
+ Old Town city center (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006)
+ Remains of the Roman fortress' walls including the Porta Praetoria
+ Stone bridge (Steineme Brucke) over the Danube River (built 1135-46)
+ University of Regensburg

Rostock
Former East Germany/DDR, port city along the Baltic Sea, pop. 201,000
+ University of Rostock (est. 1419)
+ St. Mary's Church and St. Nicholas Church (built 13th century, Brick Gothic)
+ Town Hall (15th century)

Highlights included learning about

~ the former East Germany (German Democratic Republic [DDR], 1949-90) and especially the Mecklenberg-Vorpommern district of northern Germany and its towns of Bad Doberan, Gustrow and Rostock;

~ the Berlin Wall (1961-89);

~ the European Route of Brick Gothic (a tourist route connecting 31 cities with Brick Gothic architecture in 7 countries along the Baltic Sea);

~ the cultural, political and religious impact of different movements and eras of German history (Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, etc.);

~ Germany's contribution to Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern-era music; and

~ the world of Medieval European castles and dukes, princes and princesses.

Please join me in praying for Germany, that the spiritual-theological flame of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and the 17th and 18th-century Pietist movement would be re-ignited both in-and-out of the Lutheran state church.