 Born in Épinal, Vosges in 1881, Boegner was educated in Orléans, and later Paris, where he studied law.Poor eyesight was an obstacle to his pursuit of a career within the navy but after a spiritual conversion experience he entered the Faculty for Theology in Paris and in 1905 was ordained a pastor of the Reformed Church of France.After having been a Protestant pastor in a rural parish in Aouste-sur-Sye in Drôme, in 1911 he became professor of theology at the House of the Missions of Paris, and in 1918 went on to the Parish of Poissy-Annonciation where he remained until 1952.