diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
index 37e06331..4d74f326 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ module Jekyll
           end
         end
 
-        class WithPygments < Redcarpet::Render::HTML
+        module WithPygments
           include CommonMethods
           def block_code(code, lang)
+            require 'pygments'
             lang = lang && lang.split.first || "text"
             output = add_code_tags(
               Pygments.highlight(code, :lexer => lang, :options => { :encoding => 'utf-8' }),
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ module Jekyll
           end
         end
 
-        class WithoutPygments < Redcarpet::Render::HTML
+        module WithoutPygments
           include CommonMethods
           def block_code(code, lang)
             lang = lang && lang.split.first || "text"
@@ -31,19 +32,20 @@ module Jekyll
 
         def initialize(config)
           require 'redcarpet'
-          require 'pygments'
           @config = config
           @redcarpet_extensions = {}
           @config['redcarpet']['extensions'].each { |e| @redcarpet_extensions[e.to_sym] = true }
 
           @renderer ||= if @config['pygments']
-                          WithPygments
+                          Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
+                            include WithPygments
+                          end
                         else
-                          WithoutPygments
+                          Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
+                            include WithoutPygments
+                          end
                         end
-
-          end
-        rescue LoadError
+        rescue LoadErro
           STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
           STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install redcarpet'
           raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: redcarpet")
diff --git a/test/test_redcarpet.rb b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
index 5c7b6da1..b65d2d3e 100644
--- a/test/test_redcarpet.rb
+++ b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
@@ -26,14 +26,36 @@ class TestRedcarpet < Test::Unit::TestCase
       assert_equal "<p><strong>bad code not here</strong>: i am bad</p>", @markdown.convert('**bad code not here**: <script>i am bad</script>').strip
     end
 
-    should "render fenced code blocks" do
-      assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"ruby language-ruby\"><span class=\"nb\">puts</span> <span class=\"s2\">&quot;Hello world&quot;</span>\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
-        <<-EOS
+    context "with pygments enabled" do
+      setup do
+        @markdown.config['pygments'] = true
+      end
+      
+      should "render fenced code blocks" do
+        assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"ruby language-ruby\"><span class=\"nb\">puts</span> <span class=\"s2\">&quot;Hello world&quot;</span>\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
+          <<-EOS
 ```ruby
 puts "Hello world"
 ```
-EOS
-      ).strip
+          EOS
+        ).strip
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "with pygments disabled" do
+      setup do
+        @markdown.config['pygments'] = false
+      end
+
+      should "render fenced code blocks" do
+        assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"ruby language-ruby\">puts &quot;Hello world&quot;\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
+          <<-EOS
+```ruby
+puts "Hello world"
+```
+          EOS
+        ).strip
+      end
     end
   end
 end