In this episode of The CS Lewis Podcast, Ruth Jackson introduces a special conference paper by Charlie Reeder, recorded at the 2024 Undiscovered CS Lewis Conference at George Fox University. Charlie explores Spirits in Bondage, Lewis’ little-known first published work, written while he was still an atheist, and argues that it holds the key to understanding Lewis’s lifelong theme of longing.

Tracing the idea of Sehnsucht —a deep, restless desire for a “hidden country”—Charlie shows how Lewis’s early bitterness toward God already contains the seeds of the vision later fulfilled in The Pilgrim’s Regress, The Weight of Glory, Narnia, and beyond. This episode offers a rich literary and theological journey through Lewis’ imagination, revealing how longing ultimately points not just to a place, but to a person.