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


Biography

He was born in
Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
(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, Hedmark Vang is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1992 when it became part of Hamar Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was at Fredvang. This sit ...
, then to
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
in 1850. He enrolled in theology studies at the
Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
in 1857, and graduated with the
cand.theol. Candidatus theologiæ (male), Candidata theologiæ (female), abbreviated cand. theol. is an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after a six-year higher education in theology in Iceland, Denmark, and Norway. In Norway, the title has re ...
degree in 1862. He was an open Scandinavist, and in 1864 he returned to Norway from a trip in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
to agitate for Norwegian support of the
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
cause in the
Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...
. 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 Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...
(now Nynorsk), and was also inspired by
N. F. S. Grundtvig Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential pe ...
and the Danish
folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...
movement. He founded a folk school in
Sel Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...
in
Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towar ...
during 1867. It was moved to Fykse at
Gausdal Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...
in Oppland during 1871 and Vonheim at
Gausdal Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...
during 1874. In the same year
Karoline Karoline is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Karoline Amaral (born 1984), model * Karoline Bjørnson (1835–1934), Norwegian actress * Karoline Bruch-Sinn (1853–1911), Austrian writer *Karoline Dyhre Breivang (born 1980), N ...
and
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...
moved to
Aulestad Aulestad is a farm and writer's house museum in Follebu in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located along County Road Fv255 (''Bjørnsonvegen'') between Vinstra and Hovemoen. The farm is best known as the former residence of Karoline and Bjørn ...
, which is located nearby. Gausdal became a cultural centre, although Bjørnson later split with this milieu. Bruun's thoughts on education were chiseled out in the work ''Folkelige Grundtanker'' issued in 1878.He idealized Norwegian history, and wanted to replace
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
languages with the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
''
Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poem ...
'' in schools. At the same time as hailing the Norwegian farmer, he was clear that the farming populace would need to be educated, especially over the next "century", hence the folk high schools. As a theologian he denounced
Pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...
, and emphasized the collective (the people) over the individual. He also (unlike Grundtvig) preferred a Free Church over a
State Church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
. Nonetheless, he left Vonheim Folk School to become curate in Kristiania in 1893. He was promoted to vicar at Johannes Church (''Johannes kirke'') in 1898. He supported the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
, later the
Moderate Liberal Party The Moderate Liberal Party ( no, Moderate Venstre, literally "Moderate Left") was a political party in Norway that emerged from the moderate and religious branches of the Liberal Party in 1888. The party's turn towards cooperation with the Conser ...
, but did not fit in here, neither with
Johan Sverdrup Johan Sverdrup (30 July 1816 – 17 February 1892) was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party. He was the first prime minister of Norway after the introduction of parliamentarism and served as the 4th prime minister of Norway. Sverdrup was ...
's constitutional policies nor the
Lars Oftedal Lars Oftedal (3 January 1877 – 19 April 1932) was a Norwegian attorney and newspaper editor. Biography Oftedal was born in Stavanger in Rogaland, Norway. He was the son of parish priest Lars Oftedal (1838–1900) and his wife Olava Ma ...
and
Western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...
- dominated Moderate Liberal Party. From 1884 to 1888, during a most turbulent period in Norwegian political history, Bruun issued the periodical ''For frisindet Christendom''. In 1893 he co-founded the periodical '' For kirke og kultur'', and co-edited it until 1908. In 1905 he chose not to support the radical constitutional policies that led to the
dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden The dissolution of the union ( nb, unionsoppløsningen; nn, unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; sv, unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolu ...
. His periodical refused to print his views on the union dissolution. A pamphlet was printed in Denmark and smuggled to Norway. This contributed to him being removed from ''For kirke og kultur'' in 1908.


Personal life

In 1872 Christopher Bruun married Kari Skard (1851-1924). Her parents were Ole Torsteinson Skard (1804-1886) and Mari Johannesdotter Lånke (1814-1894). She had eight siblings including brothers, Johannes Skar (1837–1914) and
Matias Skard Matias Skard (28 May 1846 – 28 July 1927) was a Norwegian philologist, educator, psalmist, essayist and translator. Biography Matias Olsen Skard was born on a family farm at Øyer in Gudbrandsdal, Norway. He had planned to study theology but ...
(1846–1927). Christopher and Kari Bruun were the parents of eight children. Five died of tuberculosis at a young age. Their daughter Margit Bruun (1875–1958) married
Klaus Sletten Klaus Daae Sletten (5 March 1877 – 4 April 1946) was a Norwegian organizational worker and politician who spent his professional career as an editor of magazines and newspapers. He was known as a supporter of the Nynorsk cause. Early life He was ...
(1877–1946) in 1905 and was the mother of Vegard Sletten. Bruun retired as vicar in 1918, and retreated to
Østre Gausdal Østre Gausdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1879 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of Gausdal Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Segalstad br ...
where he died on his farm in July 1920. His wife died in May 1924. They were buried in the family grave at
Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...
in Oslo.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruun, Christopher 1839 births 1920 deaths People from Oppland University of Oslo alumni Writers from Oslo 19th-century Danish military personnel 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy Norwegian magazine editors Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Norwegian magazine founders