I. Semi-Monastic Life: Charity and Human Dignity

Recognizing that love is the true measure of human maturity early in her life, she chose to cultivate this virtue through acts of pure charity before embarking on her college education, marking her first step into adulthood. Her hope was to dedicate the best of her youthful years to serving the world.

During her time living a semi-monastic life, she devoted herself to biblical studies, contemplative prayer, scriptural meditation, the composition of sacred music, and charitable service to the vulnerable. The contemplation of divine appellations and personhood mesmerized her; above all, the sublimity of the Crucifix, the Incarnation, and the Trinity triumphed and complemented all others. Immersed in the ineffable beauty of God’s love through service, she came to perceive the subjective reality of a dignified vision of humanity, which became her enduring focus on realizing this ideal within individuals.

This period of spiritual formation culminated in a forty-day intercessory contemplative prayer, dedicated to the reconciliation and restoration of both the church and the world. Her prayer was inspired by Christ’s High Priestly Prayer (John 17), reflecting her deep commitment to unity and healing in the Christian tradition. As her dedication to spiritual growth deepened during her semi-monastic life, she felt called to further her education.

II. Biblical Literature and the Whole Person Education (Oral Roberts University)

For someone with her own medical history and a commitment to seeking the holistic well-being of society, the vision of the Whole Person Education program at Oral Roberts University, a Christian liberal arts institution, was both inspiring and encouraging. She experienced firsthand how the entire degree program in Biblical Literature was designed to cultivate and assess students’ spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social competencies.

Her ministerial research project, “Jesus Christ the Shalom,” rooted in the promise of renewal as depicted in Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61:1-3, and Luke 4:18-19, focused on caring for the dignified aspirations of individuals while exploring the practical implications of contemplating Christ in Christian formation and the nature of human and divine poverty to support the reconciliation and restoration of immigrant communities. Additionally, her service as a liturgy coordinator and soloist for weekly ecumenical Holy Communion at the university chapel enriched the Christocentric experience in ministry. These experiential learnings culminated in her thesis, titled “Christian Unity in Light of the Doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ: A Contextual and Exegetical Reading of Philippians 2:1-11,” in which she explored the kenotic model of Christ’s Incarnation within Paul’s mystical and ministerial framework.

III. Historical Theology and the Certificate in Theology and the Arts Studies (Duke University)

Building on her foundation in Biblical Literature and ministerial experience, she aimed to further articulate the journey to human flourishing in the modern world by expanding her theological understanding and aesthetic appreciation at Duke University. At outset, she recognized the significance of understanding how saints in the Christian tradition attained the state of flourishing. Her inquiry led her to realize that the sustainable flourishing of Christians living in a highly specialized and pluralized world would require the creation of a hospitable environment that encourages both experimentation and the practice of carefully retrieving ancient Christian heritage, as well as contextualized improvisation—similar to how the Church Fathers discovered and created theological meanings and patterns. This study culminated in her thesis project titled "The Image of God and the Divine Civilization: The Art of Making Human in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa." The project explored how divinely inspired epistemic patterns or the dialogue between the Divine and humans—particularly the interplay between theoria (the contemplation of truth, goodness, beauty, and the One) and techne (poiesis)—contributed to cultural and spiritual development in the fourth century in areas such as governance, agriculture, medicine, science, craftsmanship, and community building.

Further inspired by classical thinkers and saints, like Plato, Aristotle, the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine, and St. Ambrose, who demonstrated a consilient way of thinking and the teleological approach to the common good, the Theology and the Arts community research project, titled "Summa Artifex and the Common Good" traced the transformation of these aesthetic patterns into modernity. Beginning from analyzing the artistic assets at a local church, it investigated the implications of the dynamics of aesthetic ideals conceived across diverse sociocultural and vocation-specific in fostering friendship in society. This research revealed cultural constructions of human flourishing alongside the pervasiveness of inequalities that operate even at sensory, tacit, and unconscious levels. These inequalities negatively affect how we interpret, construct societal narratives, and relate to one another, ultimately preventing the equitable flourishing of individuals. The study calls for the reconciliation of languages (holistic pedagogy) and knowledge democracy in both the educational systems and (Christian) heritage stewardship to cultivate a society that acknowledges full humanity.

As she further reflected on the exacerbation of multilateral crises in both the world and the church during the pandemic, despite the invaluable contributions of dedicated workers across all sectors of society, she became increasingly focused on developing aesthetic literacy as an effective and efficient means of mitigating systemic, cultural, and direct violence, while fostering the mutual and sustainable flourishing of individuals by elevating human consciousness.

IV. Religion, Aesthetics, and Human Flourishing (Independent study with the gracious support of professors at Duke)

Comparable to the Aristotelian framework of knowledge, the study transitioned from exploring the theoretical dialogues of episteme (principle) and techne (craftsmanship) to developing phronesis (practical wisdom). With a sound grounding in historical theology and studies in theology and the arts, she created new avenues for research that bridged her insights into human flourishing with practical implications. By placing human experience at the center of her inquiry, she explored the constituents of “the way of living” with aesthetic significance.

Her engagement with social science literature on human flourishing, happiness, and sustainable development goals—particularly from the fields of public health, economics, and positive psychology—deepened her understanding of aesthetic competency across major domains of human life and the cultural construal patterns of ascent to the Divine within a pluralistic society.

To enrich her research, she conducted sensory ethnographic observations on the meaning-making process in social aesthetic patterns through field trips to various sites in Seoul, South Korea, a city celebrated for its rich blend of history, culture, and modernity. These empirical experiences grounded her theoretical insights, offering a more defined contour of the natural form of the art of living in light of the dynamic relationship between cultural heritage and modern expressions of human flourishing.

• “Senses, Beauty, and Displacement: A Question for Christian Epistemology — Towards Equitable and Sustainable Flourishing of Christianity”

• “A Holistic Care Model: A Positive Humanities Approach to Christian Heritage Stewardship”

V. Toward Homo Aestheticus: Aesthetic Literacy & Sustainable Human Flourishing (Boston University & Harvard Divinity School via BTI)

Vivienne's search for a suitable institution led her to the Boston University School of Theology, which met her criteria: a deep commitment to examining and caring for human experience, interdisciplinary scholarship in the arts, aesthetics, and psychology (including theories of healing and object relations theory) with a practical orientation, support for a two-year master of theological studies, and a location in an urban city known for its rich history, museums, cultural diversity, creative innovations, and civic engagement. These elements were essential to enhancing her preliminary theoretical development of homo aestheticus, which acknowledges aesthetic consciousness as an integrative hermeneutic lens that appreciates and nurtures the dignity of individuals by illuminating an art and science of living out aesthetic ideals.

Additionally, courses on religious literacy in the professions and the quest for wisdom through the art of living (phronesis) at Harvard Divinity School provided essential theoretical frameworks and experiences for understanding the form, scope, and depth of aesthetic consciousness in a pluralistic society, and its constructive and generative potential as a language of beauty that builds a just and peaceful world. She understands that one potential pathway to cultivating sustainable flourishing for Christians and society as a whole is through integrating aesthetic elements into education, alongside her natural way of expressing her being in the world through artistic expressions. The rich encounters in Boston situated her research within the contemporary world. Now, she dedicates herself to the Care of Beauty Initiatives, finding a way to home—a greater fountain for humanity, where the highest human aspirations are rediscovered in a world marked by hostility, resourcefulness, and beauty.

Project I: Life in Appreciation: A Curriculum for Religious Aesthetic Literacy in Healthcare

Conference on Medicine and Religion (April, 2024)