In the mid 1960s, evangelical Christian historians began to feel a need for some kind of professional association or regular meetings, which would give them an opportunity for fellowship and the exchange of ideas. Professor Earle E. Cairns, Howard Rienstra and others helped to organized luncheons or breakfasts for evangelicals during the regular December conventions of the American Historical Association (AHA). These meetings were known as the Association of Evangelical Historians (AEH). Some schools planned conferences on topics of interest, such as the 1966 Malone Seminar on Christianity and History, and the 1967 Greenville College Conference on the Historical Heritage of American Protestantism.

In November of 1966, Professors Richard Millet of Southern Illinois University, Richard Pierard of Indiana State University and Robert Clouse of Indiana State University met, after sounding out other schools by mail and through conversations, to discuss plans for a permanent organization. In December of the same year, a larger meeting was held in New York during the AHA convention. The name Conference on Faith and History (CFH) was suggested and a draft of a statement of purpose prepared. This statement of purpose was virtually identical with the one finally incorporated in CFH's constitution in 1968. The final statement of purpose read:

"The purpose of this organization is: To encourage evangelical Christian scholars to explore the relationship of their faith to historical studies. To provide a forum for discussion of philosophies of history and to survey current scholarship and foster research in the general area of faith and history. To establish more effective means of interaction between historians associated with religiously oriented and non-sectarian institutions of higher learning."

Also at the December 1966 meeting, Richard Pierard was appointed temporary secretary-treasurer. He was later elected to the office and held it continually from 1967. In April of 1967, a second group of overlapping membership with the December group met at the Palmer House in Chicago, during the convention of the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Committees were established, plans made to publish a bulletin, dues agreed on, and an announcement on the organization prepared. At the 1967 Greenville Conference, which the CFH co-sponsored, the CFH was publicly launched and people were invited to join. Provisional officers were appointed and Robert Linder of Kansas State University began to function as editor of the Conference's Bulletin, Fides et Historia, which at first was published by Letourneau College. In 1968, officers were elected and a constitution adopted.

The CFH held an annual meeting in the autumn on some topic of interest to Christian historians. It also sponsored an annual breakfast of luncheon meeting during the AHA convention. Beside Fides et Historia, which published scholarly articles, a newsletter was also published, starting in February 1973. This newsletter contained announcements of meetings, lists of new members, personnel changes, positions available, news notes, etc. Another publication of the CFH was God and Caesar: Case Studies in the Relationship Between Christianity and the State, published by Letourneau Press in 1971.

MEETINGS OF THE CONFERENCE ON FAITH AND HISTORY

Two meetings to explore the possibility of an organization for historians, who were also committed Christians, were held in New York City on December 29, 1966, and Chicago April 28, 1967. Plans for the formation of the CFH were announced at the Conference on the Historical Heritage of American Protestantism held at Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois, on November 3-4, 1967. These meetings listed below are CFH's subsequent regular annual meetings.

PLACE/TOPIC/DATES

King Edward Sheraton Hotel; Toronto, ON A Christian Approach to History Dec. 29, 1967

Glad Tidings Tabernacle; New York, NY The Influence of Missionaries on American Foreign Relations Dec. 30, 1968

Concordia Teachers College; River Forest, IL Themes of God and Country in Western History Oct. 3-4, 1969

Windsor Park Hotel; Washington, DC Evangelicals and Black History Dec. 19, 1969

Dallas Bible College; Dallas, TX Christianity, Revolution, and Change Oct. 2-3, 1970

Tremont Temple Baptist; Church; Boston, MA The Historian, the University, and Student Confrontation Dec. 29, 1970

Calvin College; Grand Rapids, MI The Protestant Ethic in History Oct. 8-9, 1971

General Theological Seminary; New York, NY ------ Dec. 29, 1971

Wheaton College; Wheaton, IL Christianity, History and the Meaning of Life Oct. 6-7, 1972

------; New Orleans, LA ------ Dec. 29, 1972

Capital University; Columbus, OH Revivalism and Social Change Oct. 12-13, 1973

St. Francis Hotel; San Francisco, CA Historians and Academic Change Dec. 29, 1973

Bethel College; St. Paul, MN Civil Religion and Christianity Oct. 11-12, 1974

YMCA; Chicago, IL The Image of Evangelicals in Recent American History Dec. 28, 1974

Gordon College; Wenham, MA The American Revolution Oct. 10-11, 1975

Hyatt Regency Hotel; Atlanta, GA Religious Freedom: Some Bicentennial Reflections Dec. 29, 1975

Biola College; La Mirada, CA Moral Judgments in History Oct. 8-9, 1976

Shoreham Hotel; Washington, DC A Christian View of History Dec. 28, 1976

Greenville College; Greenville, IL Reflections of the Roles of the Christian Historian Oct. 7-8, 1977

Fairmont Hotel; Dallas, TX Moral Leadership of American Presidents Dec. 29, 1977

Geneva College; Beaver Falls, PA Evidence, News, and the Media in History Nov. 10-11, 1978

------; San Francisco, CA ------ Dec. 29, 1978