Christopher Bruun

Christopher Arndt Bruun (23 September 1839 – 17 July 1920) was a Norwegian priest and educator.

Biography He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was a son of jurist Johan Peter Bruun (1810–1843) and Line Stenersen (1816–1901). After his father died when Christopher was three years old, the family moved to Vang Municipality in Hedmark and then to Lillehammer Municipality in 1850. He enrolled in theology studies at the Royal Frederick University in 1857, and graduated with the cand.theol. degree in 1862.

He was an open Scandinavist, and in 1864 he returned to Norway from a trip in Rome to agitate for Norwegian support of the Danish cause in the Second Schleswig War. He even participated as a volunteer in the Battle of Dybbøl in April 1864, and after being demobilized from the war in August 1864, he walked back to Rome.

Later, especially around 1866 and 1867, Bruun began supporting the use of the language form Landsmål (now Nynorsk), and was also inspired by N. F. S. Grundtvig and the Danish folk high school movement. He founded a folk school in Sel Municipality in Gudbrandsdalen during 1867. It was moved to Fykse in Gausdal Municipality in Oppland during 1871 and to Vonheim (also in Gausdal Municipality) during 1874. In the same year Karoline and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson moved to Aulestad, which is located nearby. Gausdal became a cultural centre, although Bjørnson later split with this milieu.