diff --git a/lib/liquid/template.rb b/lib/liquid/template.rb
index de06a6fa..e27ca922 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/template.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/template.rb
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ module Liquid
     # Returns self for easy chaining
     def parse(source, options = {})
       parse_context = configure_options(options)
+      source = source.to_s.to_str
 
       unless source.valid_encoding?
         raise SyntaxError, parse_context.locale.t("errors.syntax.invalid_template_encoding")
diff --git a/lib/liquid/tokenizer.rb b/lib/liquid/tokenizer.rb
index 740f8599..1b3984ca 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/tokenizer.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/tokenizer.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ module Liquid
     attr_reader :line_number, :for_liquid_tag
 
     def initialize(source, line_numbers = false, line_number: nil, for_liquid_tag: false)
-      @source         = source.to_s.to_str
+      @source         = source
       @line_number    = line_number || (line_numbers ? 1 : nil)
       @for_liquid_tag = for_liquid_tag
       @offset         = 0
diff --git a/test/integration/template_test.rb b/test/integration/template_test.rb
index 2ed1a6fa..c2b63eb5 100644
--- a/test/integration/template_test.rb
+++ b/test/integration/template_test.rb
@@ -349,4 +349,10 @@ class TemplateTest < Minitest::Test
 
     assert_equal('Liquid syntax error: Invalid template encoding', e.message)
   end
+
+  def test_allows_non_string_values_as_source
+    assert_equal('', Template.parse(nil).render)
+    assert_equal('1', Template.parse(1).render)
+    assert_equal('true', Template.parse(true).render)
+  end
 end