diff --git a/lang/csharp/src/apache/main/IO/JsonDecoder.cs b/lang/csharp/src/apache/main/IO/JsonDecoder.cs
index 48d726e3083..a247941b436 100644
--- a/lang/csharp/src/apache/main/IO/JsonDecoder.cs
+++ b/lang/csharp/src/apache/main/IO/JsonDecoder.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*
+/*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
  * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
  * distributed with this work for additional information
@@ -45,6 +45,14 @@ private class ReorderBuffer
             public JsonReader OrigParser { get; set; }
         }
 
+        private class AvroJsonTextReader : JsonTextReader
+        {
+            public AvroJsonTextReader(TextReader reader) : base(reader)
+            {
+                this.DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.None;
+            }
+        }
+
         private JsonDecoder(Symbol root, Stream stream) : base(root)
         {
             Configure(stream);
@@ -85,7 +93,7 @@ public void Configure(Stream stream)
             Parser.Reset();
             reorderBuffers.Clear();
             currentReorderBuffer = null;
-            reader = new JsonTextReader(new StreamReader(stream));
+            reader = new AvroJsonTextReader(new StreamReader(stream));
             reader.Read();
         }
 
@@ -100,7 +108,7 @@ public void Configure(string str)
             Parser.Reset();
             reorderBuffers.Clear();
             currentReorderBuffer = null;
-            reader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(str));
+            reader = new AvroJsonTextReader(new StringReader(str));
             reader.Read();
         }
 
@@ -651,7 +659,7 @@ public override Symbol DoAction(Symbol input, Symbol top)
                     if (currentReorderBuffer != null && currentReorderBuffer.SavedFields.Count > 0)
                     {
                         throw TypeError("Unknown fields: " + currentReorderBuffer.SavedFields.Keys
-                            .Aggregate((x, y) => x + ", " + y ));
+                            .Aggregate((x, y) => x + ", " + y));
                     }
 
                     currentReorderBuffer = reorderBuffers.Pop();
@@ -735,6 +743,7 @@ private class JsonElementReader : JsonReader
             public JsonElementReader(IList<JsonElement> elements)
             {
                 this.elements = elements;
+                this.DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.None;
                 pos = 0;
             }
 
diff --git a/lang/csharp/src/apache/test/IO/JsonCodecTests.cs b/lang/csharp/src/apache/test/IO/JsonCodecTests.cs
index 1c909275594..5b05c93e563 100644
--- a/lang/csharp/src/apache/test/IO/JsonCodecTests.cs
+++ b/lang/csharp/src/apache/test/IO/JsonCodecTests.cs
@@ -268,6 +268,20 @@ public void TestJsonDecoderNumeric(string type, object value)
             }
         }
 
+        [TestCase("{ \"s\": \"1900-01-01T00:00:00Z\" }", "1900-01-01T00:00:00Z")]
+        [TestCase("{ \"s\": \"1900-01-01T00:00:00.0000000Z\" }", "1900-01-01T00:00:00.0000000Z")]
+        [TestCase("{ \"s\": \"1900-01-01T00:00:00\" }", "1900-01-01T00:00:00")]
+        public void TestJsonDecoderStringDates(string json, string expected)
+        {
+            string def = "{\"type\":\"record\",\"name\":\"X\",\"fields\": [{\"type\": \"string\",\"name\":\"s\"}]}";
+            Schema schema = Schema.Parse(def);
+            DatumReader<GenericRecord> reader = new GenericDatumReader<GenericRecord>(schema, schema);
+
+            var response = reader.Read(null, new JsonDecoder(schema, json));
+
+            Assert.AreEqual(expected, response["s"]);
+        }
+
         // Ensure that even if the order of fields in JSON is different from the order in schema, it works.
         [Test]
         public void TestJsonDecoderReorderFields()
@@ -386,7 +400,7 @@ public partial class Root : global::Avro.Specific.ISpecificRecord
             "o.Test\",\"fields\":[{\"name\":\"id\",\"type\":\"long\"}]}}},{\"name\":\"mymap\",\"default\":null," +
             "\"type\":[\"null\",{\"type\":\"map\",\"values\":\"int\"}]}]}");
         private IList<Avro.Test.Item> _myarray;
-        private IDictionary<string,System.Int32> _mymap;
+        private IDictionary<string, System.Int32> _mymap;
 
         public virtual global::Avro.Schema Schema
         {
@@ -399,7 +413,7 @@ public IList<Avro.Test.Item> myarray
             set { this._myarray = value; }
         }
 
-        public IDictionary<string,System.Int32> mymap
+        public IDictionary<string, System.Int32> mymap
         {
             get { return this._mymap; }
             set { this._mymap = value; }
@@ -423,7 +437,7 @@ public virtual void Put(int fieldPos, object fieldValue)
                     this.myarray = (IList<Avro.Test.Item>)fieldValue;
                     break;
                 case 1:
-                    this.mymap = (IDictionary<string,System.Int32>)fieldValue;
+                    this.mymap = (IDictionary<string, System.Int32>)fieldValue;
                     break;
                 default: throw new global::Avro.AvroRuntimeException("Bad index " + fieldPos + " in Put()");
             }