diff --git a/sanic/config.py b/sanic/config.py
index 0a53a607..d3b03f4f 100644
--- a/sanic/config.py
+++ b/sanic/config.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import os
 import types
 
+import import_string
+
 from sanic.exceptions import PyFileError
 
 
@@ -111,6 +113,8 @@ class Config(dict):
 
         :param obj: an object holding the configuration
         """
+        if isinstance(obj, str):
+            obj = import_string(obj)
         for key in dir(obj):
             if key.isupper():
                 self[key] = getattr(obj, key)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 37164336..87de21fb 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Sanic
 import codecs
 import os
 import re
-from distutils.errors import DistutilsPlatformError
+
 from distutils.util import strtobool
 
 from setuptools import setup
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ requirements = [
     'aiofiles>=0.3.0',
     'websockets>=6.0,<7.0',
     'multidict>=4.0,<5.0',
+    'import-string>=0.1.0'
 ]
 if strtobool(os.environ.get("SANIC_NO_UJSON", "no")):
     print("Installing without uJSON")