New editor named
The Christian Science Board of Directors has named Kurt Shillinger as Editor of The Christian Science Monitor.
The appointment comes at a challenging time for the newspaper industry, when audience share is spreading across an ever-widening array of platforms and AI poses new ethical questions. Mr. Shillinger understands the potential of new reporting and storytelling possibilities. But he holds a firm conviction that the role of journalism in a self-governing society has not changed, and that its distinction and integrity depend on the highest qualities of thought – fairness, wisdom, and discernment.
He is deeply committed to the Monitor’s mission “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.”
The appointment comes as the Monitor builds to meet the challenges of a changing media landscape.
“The Board has full confidence in Kurt, and he has our unstinting support,” Board chairperson Moji George said in announcing the appointment to the Monitor’s staff on Oct. 6.
Armin Sethna
Mr. Shillinger, who had been serving as Managing Editor, launched his career nearly 40 years ago as an intern at The Christian Science Monitor in San Francisco. He spent his first nine years at the paper working his way up to Deputy Foreign Editor and then National Political Correspondent based in Washington, D.C., where he reported on Congress and the 1996 presidential election.
He then covered sub-Saharan Africa for The Boston Globe, reporting from 21 countries during six years while based in Johannesburg. His work earned the National Association of Black Journalists Award for International Reporting.
Subsequently, Mr. Shillinger moved into the think-tank world, playing a senior role at the South African Institute of International Affairs. As Security and Terrorism Research Fellow, he traveled throughout North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia tracing emerging links among extremist groups in Africa and beyond.
During a mid-career pause, he and his family lived for three years among homesteading families in the mountains of Patagonia in southern Chile. He reconnected with the Monitor in 2020, writing for the editorial page for five years before returning to the news side of the publication.
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Mr. Shillinger is the 19th Editor of the Monitor, which was established in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
“We’re just so grateful for all of the editors who have served in that capacity throughout the years from the beginning of the Monitor, forwarding the mission that we hold so dear for this newspaper,” said Board member Keith Wommack. Addressing the staff, he said, “We feel that the work you do is just transforming the world in more ways than you can know.”
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