diff --git a/core/runtime/src/main/java/com/buschmais/jqassistant/core/runtime/api/configuration/ConfigurationMappingLoader.java b/core/runtime/src/main/java/com/buschmais/jqassistant/core/runtime/api/configuration/ConfigurationMappingLoader.java
index 873cbd6cc..b1701c7c7 100644
--- a/core/runtime/src/main/java/com/buschmais/jqassistant/core/runtime/api/configuration/ConfigurationMappingLoader.java
+++ b/core/runtime/src/main/java/com/buschmais/jqassistant/core/runtime/api/configuration/ConfigurationMappingLoader.java
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 import java.nio.file.SimpleFileVisitor;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -40,7 +39,10 @@ public class ConfigurationMappingLoader {
     /**
      * The default names of configuration files
      */
-    public static final List<String> DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATIONS = Arrays.asList(".jqassistant.yml", ".jqassistant.yaml", ".jqassistant");
+    public static final List<Path> DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATIONS = List.of(".jqassistant.yml", ".jqassistant.yaml", ".jqassistant")
+        .stream()
+        .map(Paths::get)
+        .collect(toList());
 
     /**
      * The ordinal for config sources from the user home.
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ public static <C extends Configuration> Builder<C> builder(Class<C> configuratio
      * @param configurationMapping
      *     The {@link Configuration} mapping.
      * @param configLocations
-     *     The name of the configuration directory relative to the working directory.
+     *     The names of the configuration locations. These may either be absolute paths or relative paths to the working directory.
      */
     public static <C extends Configuration> Builder<C> builder(Class<C> configurationMapping, List<String> configLocations) {
         return new Builder<>(configurationMapping, configLocations);
@@ -90,7 +92,7 @@ public static class Builder<C extends Configuration> {
 
         private final Class<C> configurationMapping;
 
-        private final List<String> configLocations;
+        private final List<Path> relativeConfigLocations;
 
         private final List<ConfigSource> configSources = new ArrayList<>();
 
@@ -98,7 +100,19 @@ public static class Builder<C extends Configuration> {
 
         private Builder(Class<C> configurationMapping, List<String> configLocations) {
             this.configurationMapping = configurationMapping;
-            this.configLocations = configLocations;
+            if (configLocations.isEmpty()) {
+                this.relativeConfigLocations = DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATIONS;
+            } else {
+                this.relativeConfigLocations = new ArrayList<>();
+                for (String configLocation : configLocations) {
+                    Path configLocationPath = Paths.get(configLocation);
+                    if (configLocationPath.isAbsolute()) {
+                        this.configSources.addAll(getExternalYamlConfigSources(configLocationPath, ORDINAL_WORKING_DIRECTORY));
+                    } else {
+                        this.relativeConfigLocations.add(configLocationPath);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
         }
 
         /**
@@ -134,7 +148,7 @@ public Builder<C> withWorkingDirectory(File workingDirectory) {
          * @return The {@link Builder}.
          */
         public Builder<C> withDirectory(File directory, int ordinal) {
-            configSources.addAll(getExternalYamlConfigSources(directory, configLocations.isEmpty() ? DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATIONS : configLocations, ordinal));
+            configSources.addAll(getExternalYamlConfigSources(directory, relativeConfigLocations, ordinal));
             return this;
         }
 
@@ -197,35 +211,36 @@ public C load(ConfigSource... additionalConfigSources) {
             return configMapping;
         }
 
-        private static List<ConfigSource> getExternalYamlConfigSources(File directory, List<String> configLocations, int ordinal) {
+        private List<ConfigSource> getExternalYamlConfigSources(File directory, List<Path> configLocations, int ordinal) {
             List<ConfigSource> configSources = new ArrayList<>();
-            for (String configLocation : configLocations) {
-                File file = directory.toPath()
-                    .resolve(Paths.get(configLocation))
-                    .toFile();
-                if (file.exists()) {
-                    if (file.isDirectory()) {
-                        configSources.addAll(getYamlConfigSources(file, ordinal));
-                    } else {
-                        configSources.add(getYamlConfigSource(file.toPath(), ordinal));
-                    }
-                }
+            for (Path configLocation : configLocations) {
+                Path path = directory.toPath()
+                    .resolve(configLocation);
+                configSources.addAll(getExternalYamlConfigSources(path, ordinal));
             }
             return configSources;
         }
 
-        private static List<ConfigSource> getYamlConfigSources(File configurationDirectory, int ordinal) {
-            log.info("Loading configuration from directory '{}'.", configurationDirectory.getAbsolutePath());
-            List<Path> configurationFiles = getYamlConfigurationFiles(configurationDirectory);
-            return configurationFiles.stream()
-                .map(path -> getYamlConfigSource(path, ordinal))
-                .collect(toList());
+        private List<ConfigSource> getExternalYamlConfigSources(Path configLocationPath, int ordinal) {
+            File file = configLocationPath.toFile();
+            if (!file.exists()) {
+                return emptyList();
+            }
+            if (file.isDirectory()) {
+                log.info("Loading configuration from directory '{}'.", configLocationPath.toAbsolutePath());
+                List<Path> configurationFiles = findYamlConfigurationFiles(configLocationPath);
+                return configurationFiles.stream()
+                    .map(path -> getYamlConfigSource(path, ordinal))
+                    .collect(toList());
+            } else {
+                return List.of(getYamlConfigSource(configLocationPath, ordinal));
+            }
         }
 
-        private static List<Path> getYamlConfigurationFiles(File configurationDirectory) {
+        private List<Path> findYamlConfigurationFiles(Path configurationDirectory) {
             List<Path> configurationFiles = new ArrayList<>();
             try {
-                walkFileTree(configurationDirectory.toPath(), new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
+                walkFileTree(configurationDirectory, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
 
                     @Override
                     public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) {
@@ -244,8 +259,7 @@ public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) {
             return configurationFiles;
         }
 
-        private static YamlConfigSource getYamlConfigSource(Path path, int ordinal) {
-            log.info("Loading configuration from file '{}'.", path.toAbsolutePath());
+        private ConfigSource getYamlConfigSource(Path path, int ordinal) {
             try {
                 return getYamlConfigSource(path.toUri()
                     .toURL(), ordinal);
@@ -254,7 +268,7 @@ private static YamlConfigSource getYamlConfigSource(Path path, int ordinal) {
             }
         }
 
-        private static List<ConfigSource> getYamlConfigSourceFromClasspath() {
+        private List<ConfigSource> getYamlConfigSourceFromClasspath() {
             try {
                 Enumeration<URL> resources = Thread.currentThread()
                     .getContextClassLoader()
@@ -267,13 +281,13 @@ private static List<ConfigSource> getYamlConfigSourceFromClasspath() {
             }
         }
 
-        private static YamlConfigSource getYamlConfigSource(URL url, int ordinal) {
+        private ConfigSource getYamlConfigSource(URL url, int ordinal) {
+            log.info("Loading YAML configuration from '{}' (priority: {}).", url, ordinal);
             try {
                 return new YamlConfigSource(url, ordinal);
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot create YAML config source from URL " + url, e);
             }
         }
-
     }
 }