diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a2d4e40..efaa932 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ DEBUG = True
 
 settings.configure(
     RENDER=not DEBUG,
+    NO_THROW=not DEBUG,
     RENDER_URL='http://127.0.0.1:9009/render',
 )
 ```
diff --git a/react/conf.py b/react/conf.py
index fe0a98d..69d5777 100644
--- a/react/conf.py
+++ b/react/conf.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 class Conf(object):
     _render_url = 'http://127.0.0.1:9009/render'
     _render = True
+    _no_throw = False
 
     # Indicates that we should rely on Django's settings as the
     # canonical reference and use the above defaults as fallbacks.
@@ -32,10 +33,24 @@ def RENDER(self):
 
         return self._render
 
-    def configure(self, RENDER_URL=None, RENDER=None):
+    @property
+    def NO_THROW(self):
+        if not self._PROXY_DJANGO_SETTINGS:
+            return self._no_throw
+
+        from django.conf import settings
+
+        if hasattr(settings, 'REACT'):
+            return settings.REACT.get('NO_THROW', self._no_throw)
+
+        return self._no_throw
+
+    def configure(self, RENDER_URL=None, RENDER=None, NO_THROW=None):
         if RENDER_URL is not None:
             self._render_url = RENDER_URL
         if RENDER is not None:
             self._render = RENDER
+        if NO_THROW is not None:
+            self._no_throw = NO_THROW
 
 settings = Conf()
diff --git a/react/render_server.py b/react/render_server.py
index b7d7d48..6c3df52 100644
--- a/react/render_server.py
+++ b/react/render_server.py
@@ -60,12 +60,18 @@ def render(self, path, props=None, to_static_markup=False, request_headers=None,
                 timeout=timeout
             )
         except requests.ConnectionError:
-            raise RenderServerError('Could not connect to render server at {}'.format(url))
+            if conf.settings.NO_THROW:
+                return RenderedComponent('', serialized_props, {})
+            else:
+                raise RenderServerError('Could not connect to render server at {}'.format(url))
 
         if res.status_code != 200:
-            raise RenderServerError(
-                'Unexpected response from render server at {} - {}: {}'.format(url, res.status_code, res.text)
-            )
+            if conf.settings.NO_THROW:
+                return RenderedComponent('', serialized_props, {})
+            else:
+                raise RenderServerError(
+                    'Unexpected response from render server at {} - {}: {}'.format(url, res.status_code, res.text)
+                )
 
         obj = res.json()
 
@@ -73,16 +79,20 @@ def render(self, path, props=None, to_static_markup=False, request_headers=None,
         err = obj.pop('error', None)
         data = obj
 
-        if err:
+        if markup is None:
+            if conf.settings.NO_THROW:
+                return RenderedComponent('', serialized_props, {})
+            else: 
+                raise ReactRenderingError('Render server failed to return markup. Returned: {}'.format(obj))
+
+        if err and not conf.settings.NO_THROW:
             if 'message' in err and 'stack' in err:
                 raise ReactRenderingError(
                     'Message: {}\n\nStack trace: {}'.format(err['message'], err['stack'])
                 )
             raise ReactRenderingError(err)
 
-        if markup is None:
-            raise ReactRenderingError('Render server failed to return markup. Returned: {}'.format(obj))
-
+                
         return RenderedComponent(markup, serialized_props, data)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_rendering.py b/tests/test_rendering.py
index c6ed898..cf6f260 100644
--- a/tests/test_rendering.py
+++ b/tests/test_rendering.py
@@ -106,6 +106,30 @@ def test_render_setting_is_respected(self):
             self.assertEqual(str(rendered), '')
             self.assertEqual(rendered.props, '{"name": "world!"}')
 
+    @mock.patch('requests.post')
+    def test_no_throw_setting_is_respected(self, requests_post_mock):
+        mock_settings = Conf()
+        mock_settings.configure(NO_THROW=True)
+        mock_json = {
+            'markup': '',
+            'error': {
+                'type': 'Error',
+                'message': 'Error message',
+            },
+        }
+        response_mock = mock.Mock()
+        response_mock.status_code = 500
+        response_mock.text = json.dumps(mock_json)
+        response_mock.json = mock.Mock(return_value=mock_json)
+        requests_post_mock.return_value = response_mock
+        with mock.patch('react.conf.settings', mock_settings):
+            rendered = render_component(
+                Components.HELLO_WORLD_JSX,
+                {'name': 'world!'},
+                to_static_markup=True,
+            )
+            self.assertEqual(rendered.markup, '')
+
     @mock.patch('requests.post')
     def test_can_pass_additional_request_headers(self, requests_post_mock):
         mock_json = {