diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParser.java
index e08f4cd8b..304d3fa14 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParser.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import org.w3c.dom.Element;
  */
 public class AuditingBeanDefinitionParser implements BeanDefinitionParser {
 
-    private static final String AUDITING_ENTITY_LISTENER_CLASS_NAME =
+    static final String AUDITING_ENTITY_LISTENER_CLASS_NAME =
             "org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.support.AuditingEntityListener";
     private static final String AUDITING_BFPP_CLASS_NAME =
             "org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.support.AuditingBeanFactoryPostProcessor";
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ public class AuditingBeanDefinitionParser implements BeanDefinitionParser {
                     createLazyInitTargetSourceBeanDefinition(auditorAwareRef));
         }
 
+        builder.addPropertyValue("dateTimeForNow",
+                element.getAttribute("set-dates"));
+
         registerInfrastructureBeanWithId(builder.getRawBeanDefinition(),
                 AUDITING_ENTITY_LISTENER_CLASS_NAME, parser, element);
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/spring-jpa-1.0.xsd b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/spring-jpa-1.0.xsd
index 945869226..75341c3fc 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/spring-jpa-1.0.xsd
+++ b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/spring-jpa-1.0.xsd
@@ -35,11 +35,6 @@
 			</xsd:complexContent>
 		</xsd:complexType>
 	</xsd:element>
-	
-	
-	
-	
-	
 
 	<xsd:element name="auditing">
 		<xsd:complexType>
@@ -53,6 +48,7 @@
 					</xsd:appinfo>
 				</xsd:annotation>
 			</xsd:attribute>
+			<xsd:attribute name="set-dates" default="true" type="xsd:boolean" />
 		</xsd:complexType>
 	</xsd:element>
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParserTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6cb1598fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/repository/config/AuditingBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008-2011 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.config;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.PropertyValue;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanFactory;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
+
+
+/**
+ * Integration tests for {@link AuditingBeanDefinitionParser}.
+ * 
+ * @author Oliver Gierke
+ */
+public class AuditingBeanDefinitionParserTests {
+
+    @Test
+    public void settingDatesIsConfigured() throws Exception {
+
+        assertSetDatesIsSetTo("auditing/auditing-namespace-context.xml", "true");
+    }
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void notSettingDatesIsConfigured() throws Exception {
+
+        assertSetDatesIsSetTo("auditing/auditing-namespace-context2.xml",
+                "false");
+    }
+
+
+    private void assertSetDatesIsSetTo(String configFile, String value) {
+
+        XmlBeanFactory factory =
+                new XmlBeanFactory(new ClassPathResource(configFile));
+        BeanDefinition definition =
+                factory.getBeanDefinition(AuditingBeanDefinitionParser.AUDITING_ENTITY_LISTENER_CLASS_NAME);
+        PropertyValue propertyValue =
+                definition.getPropertyValues().getPropertyValue(
+                        "dateTimeForNow");
+        assertThat(propertyValue, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat((String) propertyValue.getValue(), is(value));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/auditing/auditing-namespace-context2.xml b/src/test/resources/auditing/auditing-namespace-context2.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a4cfc244
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/auditing/auditing-namespace-context2.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:jpa="http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa/spring-jpa.xsd">
+    
+    <jpa:auditing set-dates="false" />
+
+</beans>
\ No newline at end of file