diff --git a/lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb b/lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb
index 99bfa336..f0cf8931 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb
@@ -169,7 +169,16 @@ module Liquid
         input = Time.at(input.to_i)
       end
 
-      date = input.is_a?(String) ? Time.parse(input) : input
+      date = 
+      if input.is_a?(String)
+        case input.downcase
+        when 'now', 'today' then Time.now
+        else
+          Time.parse(input)
+        end
+      else
+        input
+      end
 
       if date.respond_to?(:strftime)
         date.strftime(format.to_s)
diff --git a/test/liquid/standard_filter_test.rb b/test/liquid/standard_filter_test.rb
index 2ee7ae8d..8bc3a994 100644
--- a/test/liquid/standard_filter_test.rb
+++ b/test/liquid/standard_filter_test.rb
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ class StandardFiltersTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal '07/05/2006', @filters.date("2006-07-05 10:00:00", "%m/%d/%Y")
 
     assert_equal "07/16/2004", @filters.date("Fri Jul 16 01:00:00 2004", "%m/%d/%Y")
+    assert_equal "#{Date.today.year}", @filters.date('now', '%Y')
+    assert_equal "#{Date.today.year}", @filters.date('today', '%Y')
 
     assert_equal nil, @filters.date(nil, "%B")