Faith and Knowledge: The Epistemalogical Continuum

Hebrews11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
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6 And without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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9 By [Abraham] he went to live in the land of promise, ... 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. ...
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13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ...16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

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Pascal's Pensees #72

"For, in fact, what is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything. Since he is infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret; he is equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which he was made, and the Infinite in which he is swallowed up. What will he do then, but perceive the appearance of the middle of things, in an eternal despair of knowing either their beginning or their end. All things proceed from the Nothing, and are borne towards the Infinite. Who will follow these marvelous processes? The Author of these wonders understands them. None other can do so." - Blaise Pascal

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In my own mediations regarding the relationship between what is known scientifically and what is known through faith, I have arrived at a similar, albeit less profound, concept. I call it the Epistemological Continuum and i am sure that serious philosophers and theologians would scoff at me for taking myself so seriously. But I don't really. Anyway, here it is.

In our pursuit of truth we find ourselves somehow inserted in the middle of things. As Pascal says, between the nothing and the infinite. What can we know from this position. Science relies on a number of basic assumptions in order to prove new things. Scientists like to think that they have proven something empirically, but this is ultimately impossible because every fact is somehow dependent on another fact in an eternal regression until you get to something for which we have to just believe. That's why all science is based in scientific theory. Philosophy, on the other hand, often examines premises ad nauseum never believing that it has found an adequate definition for anything. The two modes of truth testing have their own bear traps to fall into. Convine yourself that everything is provable, definable and under your control and you may find you've summited the tower of Babel only to be humbled. Scientism in my opinion, may lead to egocentrism. On the other hand, philosophy which completely unravels every basic assumption will, in the end, cause despair and perhaps nihilism. The best way of pursuing truth then, in my opinion, is humbly, from the middle, testing some assumptions and trying to push forward using the scientific method within reason. But human reason has its limits and those limits fall short of the reality of truth. Knowing this, in fact, having faith in this nature of Truth [read: God], we trust, like all the saints, that our knowledge is good enough (if we are healthy in the head) for whatever God wants from us. We can then test and approve his will is good.