diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
index fd2970b8e22964603f54484393f212daa4088632..36a0a20066d98f30f2a62f9d3e1006e2f103d3ba 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def assign(new_assigns) # :nodoc:
     end
 
     def initialize(context = nil, assigns = {}, controller = nil, formats = nil) #:nodoc:
-      @_config = {}
+      @_config = ActiveSupport::InheritableOptions.new
 
       # Handle all these for backwards compatibility.
       # TODO Provide a new API for AV::Base and deprecate this one.
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/test_case_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/test_case_test.rb
index f463675a2e7b06f4535599fa731db103440632c2..a75f1bc98197622473186aeafefc95b2418ccfa7 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/test_case_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/test_case_test.rb
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ class GeneralViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
       assert_same _view, view
     end
 
+    test "retrieve non existing config values" do
+      assert_equal nil, ActionView::Base.new.config.something_odd
+    end
+
     test "works without testing a helper module" do
       assert_equal 'Eloy', render('developers/developer', :developer => stub(:name => 'Eloy'))
     end