diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 629d579..802e57f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # @digitalbazaar/http-client ChangeLog
 
+## 1.2.0 - 2021-07-xx
+
+### Added
+- Ensure that body parsing will occur for JSON content types
+  when individual method functions (e.g., `get`, `post`) are
+  not used (e.g., `httpClient(url, {method: 'get'}`). Body
+  parsing can be disabled by passing the `parseBody` option
+  set to `false`.
+
 ## 1.1.0 - 2021-04-06
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index c4976e2..64209b4 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const proxyMethods = new Set([
 ]);
 
 export const httpClient = new Proxy(ky, {
+  apply: _handleResponse,
   get(target, propKey) {
     const propValue = target[propKey];
 
@@ -22,22 +23,29 @@ export const httpClient = new Proxy(ky, {
       return propValue;
     }
     return async function() {
-      let response;
-      try {
-        response = await propValue.apply(this, arguments);
-      } catch(e) {
-        return _handleError(e);
-      }
-      // a 204 will not include a content-type header
-      const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type');
-      if(contentType && contentType.includes('json')) {
-        response.data = await response.json();
-      }
-      return response;
+      return _handleResponse(propValue, this, arguments);
     };
   }
 });
 
+async function _handleResponse(target, thisArg, args) {
+  let response;
+  try {
+    response = await target.apply(thisArg, args);
+  } catch(e) {
+    return _handleError(e);
+  }
+  const {parseBody = true} = args[1] || {};
+  if(parseBody) {
+    // a 204 will not include a content-type header
+    const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type');
+    if(contentType && contentType.includes('json')) {
+      response.data = await response.json();
+    }
+  }
+  return response;
+}
+
 async function _handleError(e) {
   // handle network errors that do not have a response
   if(!e.response) {