Peter Böhler

Peter Bohler (also spelled Boehler; born Petrus Böhler; December 31, 1712 – April 27, 1775) was a German-English Moravian bishop and missionary who was influential in the Moravian Church in the Americas and England during the eighteenth century.

Bohler was one of the many missionaries sent out to the Americas in the early 18th century by the leader of the Moravian Church, Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf. As a part of the first large scale Protestant missionary movement, Bohler spread the religion across Georgia and other American colonies. In 1740, he migrated with other Moravians to Pennsylvania, where they founded the towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem. Bohler was superintendent of the Moravian Church in England from 1747 to 1753 and was made a bishop of the church in 1748. Bohler came back to America and directed new Moravian settlements in the colonies from 1753 to 1764. Peter was the fourth child of brewers Johann Konrad Peter Böhler and his wife Antonetta Elisabetha. Bohler attended school in Frankfurt, and went to the University of Jena in 1731. His father wanted him to study medicine, but Bohler was drawn into studying theology by the university's well-known faculty members such as Johann Franz Buddeus, Johann Georg Walch and Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf. Walch and Zinzendorf greatly influenced Bohler, and showed him the ways of Pietism a movement within Lutheranism that was instrumental in the upbringing of the Methodist movement later started by John Wesley. The Pietist movement combined the Lutheran emphasis on biblical doctrine with the Reformed, but with a particular emphasis on a vigorous Christian life and behavior over intellectual doctrine. Zinzendorf used his influence on the Moravian Church to gather more supporters of the Pietist movement, including Bohler.

As a missionary On December 15, 1737, in his first official act as bishop, Count von Zinzendorf ordained Bohler to priesthood. After Wesley met Bohler at the home of a Mr. Weinatz, a Dutch merchant living in London at the time, Wesley offered to obtain lodging for Bohler

After five years, he was made superintendent of the Moravian Church in England. The following year, Bohler was ordained as a bishop of the Moravian churches in America and England. In 1753, Bohler left his post as superintendent, and returned to America. He then served as the director of new Moravian settlements there until 1764. Bohler spent the last nine years of his life back in England, still an active member of the church. He died in London on April 27, 1775, at the age of sixty-two.

In film The character of Peter Bohler is portrayed by actor Bill Oberst Jr. in the 2009 feature film Wesley, opposite Burgess Jenkins as John Wesley.