The rise of charm as a virtue:Don Giovanni as its vehicle,and some implications for theological anthropology

The relative lack of positive content in contemporary theological anthropology, as seen in the works of Farley and Pannenberg, is related to a decline in the culture's valuing of traditional virtues. The rise of charm as a replacement pseudovirtue is traced through a historical and psychological analysis of a longrunning work of presentational art, the Mozart/Da Ponte opera Don Giovanni, and the reactions of audiences to it. Ambiguities of charm are discussed with the aid of a psychoanalytic perspective.