diff --git a/app/components/blacklight/document_component.rb b/app/components/blacklight/document_component.rb
index 5f8f8e6e9a..4fff1636f8 100644
--- a/app/components/blacklight/document_component.rb
+++ b/app/components/blacklight/document_component.rb
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class DocumentComponent < Blacklight::Component
 
     # The document title with some reasonable default behavior
     renders_one :title, (lambda do |*args, component: nil, **kwargs|
-      component ||= @presenter&.view_config&.title_component || Blacklight::DocumentTitleComponent
+      component ||= view_config.title_component || Blacklight::DocumentTitleComponent
 
       component.new(*args, counter: @counter, document: @document, presenter: @presenter, as: @title_component, actions: !@show, link_to_document: !@show, document_component: self, **kwargs)
     end)
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class DocumentComponent < Blacklight::Component
     renders_one :embed, (lambda do |static_content = nil, *args, component: nil, **kwargs|
       next static_content if static_content.present?
 
-      component ||= @presenter.view_config&.embed_component
+      component ||= view_config.embed_component
 
       next unless component
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class DocumentComponent < Blacklight::Component
     renders_one :metadata, (lambda do |static_content = nil, *args, component: nil, fields: nil, **kwargs|
       next static_content if static_content.present?
 
-      component ||= @presenter&.view_config&.metadata_component || Blacklight::DocumentMetadataComponent
+      component ||= view_config.metadata_component || Blacklight::DocumentMetadataComponent
 
       component.new(*args, fields: fields || @presenter&.field_presenters || [], **kwargs)
     end)
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class DocumentComponent < Blacklight::Component
     renders_one :thumbnail, (lambda do |image_options_or_static_content = {}, *args, component: nil, **kwargs|
       next image_options_or_static_content if image_options_or_static_content.is_a? String
 
-      component ||= @presenter&.view_config&.thumbnail_component || Blacklight::Document::ThumbnailComponent
+      component ||= view_config.thumbnail_component || Blacklight::Document::ThumbnailComponent
 
       component.new(*args, document: @document, presenter: @presenter, counter: @counter, image_options: image_options_or_static_content, **kwargs)
     end)
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ class DocumentComponent < Blacklight::Component
     def initialize(document: nil, presenter: nil, partials: nil,
                    id: nil, classes: [], component: :article, title_component: nil,
                    counter: nil, document_counter: nil, counter_offset: 0,
-                   show: false, **args)
+                   show: false, view_config: nil, **args)
       Blacklight.deprecation.warn('the `presenter` argument to DocumentComponent#initialize is deprecated; pass the `presenter` in as document instead') if presenter
 
       @presenter = presenter || document || args[self.class.collection_parameter]
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ def initialize(document: nil, presenter: nil, partials: nil,
       @counter ||= 1 + @document_counter + counter_offset if @document_counter.present?
 
       @show = show
+      @view_config = view_config
     end
     # rubocop:enable Metrics/ParameterLists
 
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ def classes
     def before_render
       set_slot(:title, nil) unless title
       set_slot(:thumbnail, nil) unless thumbnail || show?
-      set_slot(:metadata, nil, fields: presenter.field_presenters, show: @show) unless metadata
+      set_slot(:metadata, nil, fields: field_presenters, show: @show) unless metadata
       set_slot(:embed, nil) unless embed
       if view_partials.present?
         view_partials.each do |view_partial|
@@ -137,6 +138,12 @@ def before_render
       end
     end
 
+    def view_config
+      @view_config ||= presenter&.view_config || Blacklight::Configuration::ViewConfig.new
+    end
+
+    delegate :field_presenters, to: :presenter
+
     private
 
     attr_reader :document_counter, :presenter, :view_partials
diff --git a/app/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior.rb b/app/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior.rb
index f4355a8939..b5e6f7bf70 100644
--- a/app/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior.rb
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ def bookmarked? document
 
   ##
   # Returns a document presenter for the given document
-  def document_presenter(document)
-    document_presenter_class(document).new(document, self)
+  def document_presenter(document, view_config: nil, **kwargs)
+    (view_config&.document_presenter_class || document_presenter_class(document)).new(document, self, view_config: view_config, **kwargs)
   end
 
   ##
diff --git a/spec/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..419accdf15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/helpers/blacklight/document_helper_behavior_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+RSpec.describe Blacklight::DocumentHelperBehavior do
+  before do
+    allow(helper).to receive(:blacklight_config).and_return(blacklight_config)
+  end
+
+  let(:blacklight_config) { Blacklight::Configuration.new }
+
+  describe '#document_presenter' do
+    subject { helper.document_presenter(document) }
+
+    let(:document) { SolrDocument.new(id: '123') }
+
+    it { is_expected.to be_a Blacklight::DocumentPresenter }
+
+    context 'in a show context' do
+      before do
+        blacklight_config.show.document_presenter_class = Blacklight::ShowPresenter
+
+        allow(helper).to receive(:action_name).and_return('show')
+      end
+
+      it { is_expected.to be_a Blacklight::ShowPresenter }
+    end
+
+    context 'with a provided view config' do
+      subject { helper.document_presenter(document, view_config: view_config) }
+
+      let(:view_config) { Blacklight::Configuration::ViewConfig.new(document_presenter_class: stub_class) }
+      let(:stub_class) { stub_const('MyDocumentPresenter', Class.new(Blacklight::DocumentPresenter)) }
+
+      it { is_expected.to be_a stub_class }
+    end
+  end
+end