Mary Baker Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor as a daily newspaper that would “spread undivided the Science that operates unspent” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). I’ve grown to appreciate a natural connection between the Monitor’s cadence and its mission. By creating a daily news publication, Mrs. Eddy provided both a mechanism for and a reminder to Christian Scientists to participate in spreading Science—through consistently praying each day for whatever needs healing in the world. Could it be that the Monitor’s cadence invites us—each day—to recognize that our prayers for ourselves and our prayers for the world are actually linked and therefore can’t be disjoined or divided? Or in other words, we practice Science most effectively in our own lives when we’re also making a conscious effort to do so for the world.
Today, the way most of us consume news looks different than it did in 1908. But the importance of gathering facts and making our own well-reasoned conclusions about world events—again, in helping us pray effectively about them—is just as vital. That’s why the Monitor is launching an app for smartphones in late January. We hope the convenience of accessing newly published stories throughout your day will support your efforts to embrace the world in your daily practice of Christian Science.
The app’s design includes an updated look that honors both our roots and our journalism. The nameplate for the refreshed look was inspired by the original editorial page from 1908, including the wheat sheaf designed at Mrs. Eddy’s request, as well as the color palette drawn from a wheat field. The design also aims to convey what Monitor journalists strive to be in their reporting: calm, purifying, and nonsensational. This new look will roll out in all Monitor products in early 2026.
