The American Academy of Religion (AAR) was founded in 1909 by Professor Ismar J. Peritz of Syracuse University, Irving Wood (1861-1934) of Smith College, Raymond C. Knox (born 1876) of Columbia University, and Olive Dutcher (1845-1915) of Mount Holyoke College under the name "Association of Biblical Instructors in American Colleges and Secondary Schools." The founders saw a critical need for ongoing reflection of religion and created the association as a way to stimulate scholarship and teaching in religion. In December 1922, members of the Association voted to change the name to the National Association of Biblical Instructors (NABI). By 1963, the group once again changed its name and became the American Academy of Religion. The AAR's mission continues to be one of reflection upon and understanding of religious traditions, issues, questions, and values, and "to promote such reflection through excellence in scholarship and teaching in the field of religion".

AAR is closely associated with the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). The SBL was founded in January 1880 when eight individuals met in Philip Schaff's study in New York City, New York. The purpose of the Society is to "foster biblical scholarship including teachers, students, religious leaders and individuals from all walks of life." In 1969 the AAR and SBL formed the Council for the Study of Religion. The next year the coalition began holding joint annual meetings. The 2007 joint conference was the last annual joint conference.

The Pacific Northwest Region of the AAR/SBL was created on April 23-24, 1971 at a regional meeting held at the Portland Hilton, Portland, Oregon as a way to encourage religion professors, students, and those simply interested in religion to gather together to share their knowledge. Officers were elected that the 1971 Portland meeting including, "John Anderson, Lewis and Clark, President; Ward Gasque, Regent College, Vice-President and President-Elect (each for one year); Jack Sanders, University of Oregon, Executive Secretary; …and John King, Oregon State University, Recording Secretary."

Because of the size of the geographic region, the conventions rotated from place to place. After the 1976 regional meeting, the group adhered to a four-area rotation: Canada-British Columbia-Alberta-Saskatchewan (meeting held in Victoria, BC in 1977); Oregon (Portland, 1978); Puget Sound area (Seattle, 1979); and USA-East-of-the-Cascades (Spokane, Washington in 1980), which has continued to the present. The regional conventions would last approximately one-and-two-thirds days beginning on a Thursday evening and closing the following Saturday around noon. The meetings would usually include two plenary sessions, "the President's address on Thursday evening, and religion scholar of wider prominence, usually from outside [the] region, for the Friday evening banquet address" while the Friday and Saturday morning sessions would be paper readings and discussions.

Papers are usually placed in one of eight sections: Hebrew Scriptures, History of Religions, History of Christianity, New Testament and Hellenistic Religions, Religion and Society, Theology and Philosophy of Religion, or Women and Religion. The eighth section, Native American and Minority Traditions, is active intermittently. During the 1992 and 1993 meetings two experimental sections were offered, Aesthetic Dimensions: Religion, Literature, and Spirituality; and Pastoral/Practical Theology. In the mid-1970s the region established a student paper competition with the prize being $50.00 for the best paper. When William Shepherd, faculty at University of Montana, died, an additional competition was established for another student winner. By 1990 both prize amounts for the Shepherd Memorial prize and the original paper contest were increased to $100.00, and the competitions would be split by undergraduate student papers in one and graduate students in the other.