"Dear Sir,
Do Christians view the body as equally important to the soul or is the soul more important?"
There are different facets of this argument:
Superficially we can say that because of "imago dei" our bodies are sacred and therefore they have a connection with God.
Christianity argues that our souls are a gift from God which is what makes humanity: God's intended creation, rather than aminals or progression through evolution.
If we look at the importance of death in Christianity we can see that doctrine indicates the soul goes to be judged however the body is left until the parousia (the second coming of the messiah). In Judaism this is why it is preferable for orthodox (Hasidic, Heredi Jews) to be buried by the Towrr of Ascension in Jerusalem, so that they are at the sight of the coming of the messiah.Eschatology is the doctrine of hope which says that there are three 'ages'.
1) Before the arrival of the Messiah (the stage within which Judaism is now).
2) Realised eschatology which is where the messiah has come and you believe that the parousia is inevitable (Paul wrote about this in the NT). This applies to: "Convert now, then end is nigh."
3) The period when the messiah has arrived and the believers' bodies join their souls with God in heaven. This is at the act of general judgement.
In theory our bodies are less important than the soul, however Christian teaching indicates that the body has a vital part in the relationship with God.
The Eucharist is also a factor in the relationship between the soul and the body. If we look at the importance of Christ's body, as well as the analogy for his body representing the Church (1 Corinthians 12) then we could say that our bodies are all part of the Church in a broader sense. Paul used the body's interlinking organs and senses as a metaphor for the individual's involvement in the Church, in a broader sense from ἐκκλησία. In Matthew 2 the author writes that the soul somehow dictates the health of the body and these two entities are therefore inextricably linked.
Suicide is also a cause for doctrinal debate. If our bodies are a gift from God then it is a sin to damage them. That is why western law dictated that attempted suicide was illegal, and it stayed that way until 1961 in England and Wales (the traditionally protestant Scotland has not had laws against suicide for some time). Prior to 1961 the treatment of the corpse and the estate of the individual post-suicide was often marginalised and funds may well have been extracted by the state.
Abortion is of the same vain as suicide within the dichotomy between soul and body, doctrine would dictate that if the body is a gift from God then it is sacred. However if ensoulment hasn't occured then how do we (or God) make that judgement call as to when a person becomes a person?
The often quoted and much discussed passage in the book of Matthew asks the reader whether damage to the body on earth is equivalent to eternal damage to both body and soul in hell. The reader must therefore assume that eternal punishment to the soul is of more immediate threat that a purposeful damage to the body on earth. However the difficulty arises, when using hermeneutics, that they way in which Christians treat the body can determine their fate at judgement.
I'll leave the overall decision to you, do have a look at the hyperlinks too.
