diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 73be34a..02d0281 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,3 +17,6 @@ docs/_build
 *node_modules*
 # but keep the .coveragerc (for TravisCI/Coveralls services)
 !.coveragerc
+
+# test data
+*.sqlite3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6da936e..017d398 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 Changelog
 ================
+* 0.1.8
+
+  * Added support for the ``request.response`` API.
+
 * 0.1.7
 
   * Added support for the ``api_version`` predicate.
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 9c3c052..653c04d 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 # The short X.Y version.
 version = '0.1'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = '0.1.7'
+release = '0.1.8'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 814710e..cd0f6d4 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -289,6 +289,65 @@ used, the view must return a HttpResponse object or a Python *dictionary*.  The
 dictionary items will then be used as the template context objects.
 
 
+Varying Attributes of Rendered Responses
+----------------------------------------
+
+.. note:: This section is partly copied from the
+   `Pyramid Renderers documentation <http://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/pyramid/en/latest/narr/renderers.html#varying-attributes-of-rendered-responses>`_,
+   since Rhetoric provides almost the same API.
+
+.. versionadded:: 0.1.8
+
+Before a response constructed by a :term:`renderer` is returned to
+:app:`Django`, several attributes of the request are examined which have the
+potential to influence response behavior.
+
+View callables that don't directly return a response should use the API of
+the :class:`django.http.HttpResponse` attribute available as
+``request.response`` during their execution, to influence associated response
+behavior.
+
+For example, if you need to change the response status from within a view
+callable that uses a renderer, assign the ``status_code`` attribute to the
+``response`` attribute of the request before returning a result:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+   :linenos:
+
+   from rhetoric import view_config
+
+   @view_config(name='dashboard', renderer='dashboard.html')
+   def myview(request):
+       request.response.status_code = 404
+       return {'URL': request.get_full_path()}
+
+Note that mutations of ``request.response`` in views which return a HttpResponse
+object directly will have no effect unless the response object returned *is*
+``request.response``.  For example, the following example calls
+``request.response.set_cookie``, but this call will have no effect, because a
+different Response object is returned.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+   :linenos:
+
+   from django.http import HttpResponse
+
+   def view(request):
+       request.response.set_cookie('abc', '123') # this has no effect
+       return HttpResponse('OK') # because we're returning a different response
+
+If you mutate ``request.response`` and you'd like the mutations to have an
+effect, you must return ``request.response``:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+   :linenos:
+
+   def view(request):
+       request.response.set_cookie('abc', '123')
+       return request.response
+
+
+
 Predicates
 ============================
 
diff --git a/rhetoric/config/rendering.py b/rhetoric/config/rendering.py
index 9a9af9f..4f0b013 100644
--- a/rhetoric/config/rendering.py
+++ b/rhetoric/config/rendering.py
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ def __init__(self, name):
         self.name = name
 
     def __call__(self, request, view_response):
-        return HttpResponse(json_encode(view_response), content_type='application/json; charset=utf-8')
+        response = request.response
+        response.content_type = 'application/json; charset=utf-8'
+        response.content = json_encode(view_response)
+        return response
 
 
 class StringRendererFactory(object):
@@ -19,7 +22,10 @@ def __init__(self, name):
         self.name = name
 
     def __call__(self, request, view_response):
-        return HttpResponse(view_response, content_type='text/plain; charset=utf-8')
+        response = request.response
+        response.content_type = 'text/plain; charset=utf-8'
+        response.content = view_response
+        return response
 
 
 class DjangoTemplateRendererFactory(object):
@@ -27,7 +33,12 @@ def __init__(self, name):
         self.name = name
 
     def __call__(self, request, context_dict):
-        return render(request, self.name, context_dict)
+        response = request.response
+        httpresponse_kwargs = {
+            'content_type': response['Content-Type'],
+            'status': response.status_code
+        }
+        return render(request, self.name, context_dict, **httpresponse_kwargs)
 
 
 BUILTIN_RENDERERS = {
diff --git a/rhetoric/middleware.py b/rhetoric/middleware.py
index c23af74..13b7c39 100644
--- a/rhetoric/middleware.py
+++ b/rhetoric/middleware.py
@@ -1,9 +1,20 @@
+from django.http import HttpResponse
 from django.middleware.csrf import CsrfViewMiddleware
 
 from rhetoric.view import ViewCallback
 
 
 class CsrfProtectedViewDispatchMiddleware(CsrfViewMiddleware):
+
+    def process_request(self, request):
+        # We assume here that CsrfViewMiddleware doesn't have the process_request method
+        # which should be called via super().
+        # -------------------------------------------------
+        # set request.response object as in
+        # http://docs.pylonsproject.org/projects/pyramid/en/latest/api/request.html#pyramid.request.Request.response
+        setattr(request, 'response', HttpResponse())
+
+
     def process_view(self, request, callback, callback_args, callback_kwargs):
         if isinstance(callback, ViewCallback):
             view_settings = callback.find_view_settings(request, callback_args, callback_kwargs)
@@ -12,7 +23,7 @@ def process_view(self, request, callback, callback_args, callback_kwargs):
                 request, view_settings['view'], callback_args, callback_kwargs
             )
 
-        # The callable is not a part of Rhetoric
+        # The callable is a regular django view
         return super(CsrfProtectedViewDispatchMiddleware, self).process_view(
             request, callback, callback_args, callback_kwargs
-        )
\ No newline at end of file
+        )
diff --git a/rhetoric/view.py b/rhetoric/view.py
index 503f682..6db9469 100644
--- a/rhetoric/view.py
+++ b/rhetoric/view.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from django.core.urlresolvers import RegexURLPattern as DjangoRegexURLPattern
-from django.http import HttpResponse, Http404
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+from django.http import Http404
 
 import venusian
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 611317c..0c3d762 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def run_tests(self):
 
 setup(
     name='Rhetoric',
-    version='0.1.7',
+    version='0.1.8',
     packages=find_packages(exclude=['tests']),
     install_requires=[
         'Django>=1.4',
diff --git a/tests/testapp/testapp/blog/views.py b/tests/testapp/testapp/blog/views.py
index cd64092..e801abd 100644
--- a/tests/testapp/testapp/blog/views.py
+++ b/tests/testapp/testapp/blog/views.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ def api_v1_submit_form_view(request):
 
 @view_config(route_name='blog.page', request_method='GET', renderer='json')
 def blog_page(request, page_slug):
+    # test custom response status api
+    request.response.status_code = 201
     return {
         'page_slug': page_slug
     }
diff --git a/tests/testapp/testapp/index/views.py b/tests/testapp/testapp/index/views.py
index b1c8bf5..9eb2197 100644
--- a/tests/testapp/testapp/index/views.py
+++ b/tests/testapp/testapp/index/views.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ def dashboard(request):
              # is explicitly set
              decorator=require_http_methods(["GET", "POST"]))
 def post_on_dashboard(request):
+    request.response.status_code = 201
     return {'method': 'POST'}
 
 
diff --git a/tests/url_tests.py b/tests/url_tests.py
index d013dbd..f15ee0f 100644
--- a/tests/url_tests.py
+++ b/tests/url_tests.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ def test_blog_requests(self):
         assert response.status_code == 200
 
         response = self.client.get('/blog/page/page-slug')
-        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.status_code == 201
         json_data = response.content.decode('utf-8')
         assert {'page_slug':'page-slug'} == json.loads(json_data)
 
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def test_dashboard_requests(self):
 
         # Test POST to the same URL
         response = self.client.post('/dashboard')
-        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.status_code == 201
         assert response.content.decode('utf-8').strip() == 'Dashboard POST'
 
         # Test PUT to the same URL
@@ -39,3 +39,7 @@ def test_non_rhetoric_urls(self):
     def test_route_path(self):
         url = self.rhetoric.url.route_path('index.dashboard')
         assert url == '/dashboard'
+
+    def test_custom_response_attributes(self):
+        response = self.client.get('/blog/page/page-slug')
+        assert response.content_type == 'application/json; charset=utf-8'