Final answer:
The theological problem with viewing the body as a prison for the soul is that it contradicts many religious beliefs that hold the body and soul to be interconnected and that both were created good by God. It oversimplifies the complex integration of material and spiritual existence, and overlooks the moral dimensions of this unity.
Step-by-step explanation:
One theological problem with saying that our bodies are a prison that our souls escape upon death concerns the integrated view of the person in many religious traditions. In contrast to the Platonic perspective that demeans the physical in favor of the spiritual, theistic belief systems, like those in Judeo-Christian traditions, often hold that the body and soul are deeply interconnected. Moreover, the idea of a prison implies that the material world and our bodies are inherently flawed or evil, contradicting beliefs that God created the physical world, including human bodies, and saw that it was good.
The ensoulment debate, which interacts with questions of abortion and personhood, also implies that the soul is intimately connected to bodily existence. Jewish and Christian scriptures suggest that God breathes life into the physical form to create a living being. The idea that our cells renew over time and yet we remain the same being also speaks to the continuous integration of body and soul. Lastly, the notion that the soul requires salvation and may not automatically ascend to eternal life challenges the prison metaphor as overly simplistic and neglecting the moral dimensions of soul-body unity.