He was born in Kristiansund,[1] the son of customs officer and politician Edvard Eilert Christie (1773–1831).
He finished his secondary education at Bergen Cathedral School in 1834, enrolled in law studies but left after three years, then worked as a private teacher before graduating with the cand.theol.
Christie was also involved in the dispute between Henrik Wergeland and Johan Sebastian Welhaven, on the former's side.
In Norsk biografisk leksikon, Francis Bull wrote that living in Northern Norway "had destroyed him".
He lived in Haugesund in his later life, and died there on 17 May 1885,[3] incidentally the Norwegian Constitution Day, the celebration of which nationalists like Wergeland and Bjørnson had been proponents.