How true are stories?

(This is about the story of Jesus' resurrection, among other things.)

Humans tell stories all the time, it is possibly the fundamental mode of communication. We like them for learning, and also for drama. They don't have drama if all the small print is left in. They don't come with references and footnotes. We know very well that if two protagonists tell the story of the same encounter it is likely to sound pretty different.

Stories then get passed from mouth to mouth. The original narrators at least knew what some of the small print was. The subsequent narrators don't. What they are left with is the "moral of the story". The moral of the story can be misleading or leading, so to speak. A moral to the effect that mothers-in-law are always bad news is misleading.

Stories can be inspiring, if they demonstrate human virtues; and they can be inspiring even if they are pure invention. Even as fiction, they should probably come with some small print.

To my mind, the moral of the Jesus Resurrection story is that someone can be cruelly killed and that is absolutely not the end. That moral is definitely true. We no longer have any of the small print about the sense in which Jesus was alive after his death. We have to accept the fact that we don't have it, and can still thrive on the moral.

I want to go on about the nearest equivalent to stories in Science; but can't now.

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