Heinrich Bohner was a long-serving German missionary in West Africa. Born in the Bavarian Palatinate, Bohner worked for the Basel Mission (BM) in the Ga-Adangme region of Ghana from 1863 to 1889. He was a main influence in the conversion of Paulo Mohenu, a traditional priest who played a major role in the expansion of the BM church in the Ga-Adangme language group, and whose biography Bohner wrote. From 1890 to 1898 he was Präses (local head) of BM in Cameroon, playing a key role in building up BM work in this new field. He died in Germany. One of his children, Theodor, published a description of the trials of growing up as the son of a missionary.

Paul Jenkins

Bibliography

Heinrich Bohner, Die Erziehung des Kamerun-Negers zur Kultur (1902). Theodor Bohner, Auf allen Strassen: Geschichte einer Jugend in zwei Romanen (5th ed., 1921, autobiography of his youth) and Der Schuhmacher Gottes (1934; biography of his father).

This article is reproduced, with permission, from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, copyright © 1998, by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.