significant tradition in Western Christianity for at least last several hundred years, a tradition which separates man from and invests him with a dominant position over it. Gradually we are coming to recognize that we will have to revise some of our thinking in this area. In particular, we need to come to grips with what many consider to be a deep-seated anthropocentricism in Christianity. A harbinger of this recognition is a paper which Lynn White, Professor of History at University of California, presented to American Academy of Science in December, 1966.1 Entitled The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis, it poses issue in a particularly forceful and compelling way. Our difficulties with environment, he argues, are at base theological rather than technological. They derive from a domineering attitude we have toward nature, which in turn is rooted in Christian belief system with its dogma of man's transcendence of, and rightful mastery over, nature. In words of first chapter of Genesis, man is made in image of God and given dominion over all creatures of earth. Add to that Christian's rejection of primitive animism, with its sense of a divine presence in natural objects such as waterfalls, trees, and animals, and the old inhibitions to exploitation of nature fall away. We are left with feeling that man can do with about as he pleases. As a corrective to this anthropocentric outlook, White proposes that we give renewed attention to a neglected tradition in Christian thought represented by St. Francis of Assisi. This spiritual revolutionary, known primarily for his sermons to members of animal kingdom, tried to depose man from his monarchy over creation and set up a democracy of all God's creatures. Though he did not succeed at time, his thought could have special relevance for