[1][2] Both the conference and the eventual declaration came about as a result of David F. Wells' 1993 book No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
This book was highly critical of the Evangelical church in America for abandoning its historical and theological roots, and instead embracing the philosophies and pragmatism of the world.
The two principal players involved in spearheading the conference from which the Cambridge Declaration emerged were James Montgomery Boice of Evangelical Ministries (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and Dr. Michael S. Horton of Christians United for Reformation (Anaheim, California).
Like Wells, Horton and Boice were both strong critics of the shallow nature of contemporary Evangelicalism, and had published a book to that effect.
The choice of location was deliberate, since Cambridge was the seat of Harvard University and thus the center of ecclesiastical and intellectual life in 17th century America.