diff --git a/src/immuconf/config.clj b/src/immuconf/config.clj
index 998150d..79eea31 100644
--- a/src/immuconf/config.clj
+++ b/src/immuconf/config.clj
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   (:require [clojure.walk :as w]
             [clojure.edn :as edn]
             [clojure.string :as s]
+            [clojure.java.io :as java.io]
             [clojure.tools.logging :as log]))
 
 (ns-unmap *ns* 'Override)
@@ -75,7 +76,9 @@
   given filename and the resulting config "
   [file]
   (try
-    [file (edn/read-string {:readers *data-readers*} (slurp file))]
+    (let [file-as-file (java.io/as-file file)]
+      (when (.exists file-as-file)
+        [file (edn/read-string {:readers *data-readers*} (slurp file-as-file))]))
     (catch Throwable t
       (throw (ex-info (format "Error loading config file: %s" file)
                       {:file file} t)))))
diff --git a/test/immuconf/config_test.clj b/test/immuconf/config_test.clj
index 27b3130..3f3ecdd 100644
--- a/test/immuconf/config_test.clj
+++ b/test/immuconf/config_test.clj
@@ -51,6 +51,15 @@
   (System/setProperty "user.home" (str (System/getProperty "user.dir") "/test"))
   (is (cfg/load "~/fixtures/test-a.edn")))
 
+(deftest missing-files-are-allowed
+  (is (= (cfg/load "test/fixtures/test-a.edn"
+                   "test/fixtures/this-file-does-not-exist.edn"
+                   "test/fixtures/test-b.edn")
+         {:a {:b {:c 1 :d 2}}})
+      "Missing files are treated as empty maps")
+  (is (= {} (cfg/load "test/fixtures/this-file-does-not-exist.edn"
+                      "test/fixtures/another-missing-file.edn"))
+      "If all files are missing, the config is an empty map"))