diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/render.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/render.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..20f538df45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/render.py
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+"""
+Content rendering functionality
+
+Note that this module is designed to imitate the front end behavior as
+implemented in Markdown.Sanitizer.js.
+"""
+import re
+
+import markdown
+
+# These patterns could be more flexible about things like attributes and
+# whitespace, but this is imitating Markdown.Sanitizer.js, so it uses the
+# patterns defined therein.
+TAG_PATTERN = re.compile(r"<[^>]*>?")
+SANITIZED_TAG_PATTERN = re.compile(r"<(/?)(\w+)[^>]*>")
+ALLOWED_BASIC_TAG_PATTERN = re.compile(
+    r"^(</?(b|blockquote|code|del|dd|dl|dt|em|h1|h2|h3|i|kbd|li|ol|p|pre|s|sup|sub|strong|strike|ul)>|<(br|hr)\s?/?>)$"
+)
+ALLOWED_A_PATTERN = re.compile(
+    r'^(<a\shref="((https?|ftp)://|/)[-A-Za-z0-9+&@#/%?=~_|!:,.;\(\)]+"(\stitle="[^"<>]+")?\s?>|</a>)$'
+)
+ALLOWED_IMG_PATTERN = re.compile(
+    r'^(<img\ssrc="(https?://|/)[-A-Za-z0-9+&@#/%?=~_|!:,.;\(\)]+"(\swidth="\d{1,3}")?'
+    r'(\sheight="\d{1,3}")?(\salt="[^"<>]*")?(\stitle="[^"<>]*")?\s?/?>)$'
+)
+
+
+def _sanitize_tag(match):
+    """Return the tag if it is allowed or the empty string otherwise"""
+    tag = match.group(0)
+    if (
+            ALLOWED_BASIC_TAG_PATTERN.match(tag) or
+            ALLOWED_A_PATTERN.match(tag) or
+            ALLOWED_IMG_PATTERN.match(tag)
+    ):
+        return tag
+    else:
+        return ""
+
+
+def _sanitize_html(source):
+    """
+    Return source with all non-allowed tags removed, preserving the text content
+    """
+    return TAG_PATTERN.sub(_sanitize_tag, source)
+
+
+def _remove_unpaired_tags(source):
+    """
+    Return source with all unpaired tags removed, preserving the text content
+
+    source should have already been sanitized
+    """
+    tag_matches = list(SANITIZED_TAG_PATTERN.finditer(source))
+    if not tag_matches:
+        return source
+    tag_stack = []
+    tag_name_stack = []
+    text_stack = [source[:tag_matches[0].start()]]
+    for i, match in enumerate(tag_matches):
+        tag_name = match.group(2)
+        following_text = (
+            source[match.end():tag_matches[i + 1].start()] if i + 1 < len(tag_matches) else
+            source[match.end():]
+        )
+        if tag_name in ["p", "img", "br", "li", "hr"]:  # tags that don't require closing
+            text_stack[-1] += match.group(0) + following_text
+        elif match.group(1):  # end tag
+            if tag_name in tag_name_stack:  # paired with a start tag somewhere
+                # pop tags until we find the matching one, keeping the non-tag text
+                while True:
+                    popped_tag_name = tag_name_stack.pop()
+                    popped_tag = tag_stack.pop()
+                    popped_text = text_stack.pop()
+                    if popped_tag_name == tag_name:
+                        text_stack[-1] += popped_tag + popped_text + match.group(0)
+                        break
+                    else:
+                        text_stack[-1] += popped_text
+            # else unpaired; drop the tag
+            text_stack[-1] += following_text
+        else:  # start tag
+            tag_stack.append(match.group(0))
+            tag_name_stack.append(tag_name)
+            text_stack.append(following_text)
+    return "".join(text_stack)
+
+
+def render_body(raw_body):
+    """
+    Render raw_body to HTML.
+
+    This includes the following steps:
+
+    * Convert Markdown to HTML
+    * Strip non-whitelisted HTML
+    * Remove unbalanced HTML tags
+
+    Note that this does not prevent Markdown syntax inside a MathJax block from
+    being processed, which the forums JavaScript code does.
+    """
+    rendered = markdown.markdown(raw_body)
+    rendered = _sanitize_html(rendered)
+    rendered = _remove_unpaired_tags(rendered)
+    return rendered
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/serializers.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/serializers.py
index a875fc59f5..290ec49b32 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/serializers.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/serializers.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 
 from rest_framework import serializers
 
+from discussion_api.render import render_body
 from django_comment_common.models import (
     FORUM_ROLE_ADMINISTRATOR,
     FORUM_ROLE_COMMUNITY_TA,
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ class _ContentSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
     created_at = serializers.CharField(read_only=True)
     updated_at = serializers.CharField(read_only=True)
     raw_body = NonEmptyCharField(source="body")
+    rendered_body = serializers.SerializerMethodField("get_rendered_body")
     abuse_flagged = serializers.SerializerMethodField("get_abuse_flagged")
     voted = serializers.SerializerMethodField("get_voted")
     vote_count = serializers.SerializerMethodField("get_vote_count")
@@ -122,6 +124,10 @@ class _ContentSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
         """Returns the role label for the content author."""
         return None if self._is_anonymous(obj) else self._get_user_label(int(obj["user_id"]))
 
+    def get_rendered_body(self, obj):
+        """Returns the rendered body content."""
+        return render_body(obj["body"])
+
     def get_abuse_flagged(self, obj):
         """
         Returns a boolean indicating whether the requester has flagged the
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_api.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_api.py
index 51104ce04e..4afb375b5d 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_api.py
@@ -597,6 +597,7 @@ class GetThreadListTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTest
                 "type": "discussion",
                 "title": "Test Title",
                 "raw_body": "Test body",
+                "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
                 "pinned": False,
                 "closed": False,
                 "following": False,
@@ -622,6 +623,7 @@ class GetThreadListTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTest
                 "type": "question",
                 "title": "Another Test Title",
                 "raw_body": "More content",
+                "rendered_body": "<p>More content</p>",
                 "pinned": False,
                 "closed": True,
                 "following": False,
@@ -953,6 +955,7 @@ class GetCommentListTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
                 "created_at": "2015-05-11T00:00:00Z",
                 "updated_at": "2015-05-11T11:11:11Z",
                 "raw_body": "Test body",
+                "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
                 "endorsed": False,
                 "endorsed_by": None,
                 "endorsed_by_label": None,
@@ -971,6 +974,7 @@ class GetCommentListTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
                 "created_at": "2015-05-11T22:22:22Z",
                 "updated_at": "2015-05-11T33:33:33Z",
                 "raw_body": "More content",
+                "rendered_body": "<p>More content</p>",
                 "endorsed": False,
                 "endorsed_by": None,
                 "endorsed_by_label": None,
@@ -1186,6 +1190,7 @@ class CreateThreadTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTestC
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Test Title",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "pinned": False,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -1353,6 +1358,7 @@ class CreateCommentTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTest
             "created_at": "2015-05-27T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-05-27T00:00:00Z",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,
@@ -1562,6 +1568,7 @@ class UpdateThreadTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTestC
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Original Title",
             "raw_body": "Edited body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Edited body</p>",
             "pinned": False,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -1825,6 +1832,7 @@ class UpdateCommentTest(CommentsServiceMockMixin, UrlResetMixin, ModuleStoreTest
             "created_at": "2015-06-03T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-06-03T00:00:00Z",
             "raw_body": "Edited body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Edited body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_render.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_render.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0faa24ad53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_render.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+"""
+Tests for content rendering
+"""
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+import ddt
+
+from discussion_api.render import render_body
+
+
+def _add_p_tags(raw_body):
+    """Return raw_body surrounded by p tags"""
+    return "<p>{raw_body}</p>".format(raw_body=raw_body)
+
+
+@ddt.ddt
+class RenderBodyTest(TestCase):
+    """Tests for render_body"""
+    def test_empty(self):
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(""), "")
+
+    @ddt.data(
+        ("*", "em"),
+        ("**", "strong"),
+        ("`", "code"),
+    )
+    @ddt.unpack
+    def test_markdown_inline(self, delimiter, tag):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            render_body("{delimiter}some text{delimiter}".format(delimiter=delimiter)),
+            "<p><{tag}>some text</{tag}></p>".format(tag=tag)
+        )
+
+    @ddt.data(
+        "b", "blockquote", "code", "del", "dd", "dl", "dt", "em", "h1", "h2", "h3", "i", "kbd",
+        "li", "ol", "p", "pre", "s", "sup", "sub", "strong", "strike", "ul"
+    )
+    def test_openclose_tag(self, tag):
+        raw_body = "<{tag}>some text</{tag}>".format(tag=tag)
+        is_inline_tag = tag in ["b", "code", "del", "em", "i", "kbd", "s", "sup", "sub", "strong", "strike"]
+        rendered_body = _add_p_tags(raw_body) if is_inline_tag else raw_body
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), rendered_body)
+
+    @ddt.data("br", "hr")
+    def test_selfclosing_tag(self, tag):
+        raw_body = "<{tag}>".format(tag=tag)
+        is_inline_tag = tag == "br"
+        rendered_body = _add_p_tags(raw_body) if is_inline_tag else raw_body
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), rendered_body)
+
+    @ddt.data("http", "https", "ftp")
+    def test_allowed_a_tag(self, protocol):
+        raw_body = '<a href="{protocol}://foo" title="bar">baz</a>'.format(protocol=protocol)
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), _add_p_tags(raw_body))
+
+    def test_disallowed_a_tag(self):
+        raw_body = '<a href="gopher://foo">link content</a>'
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), "<p>link content</p>")
+
+    @ddt.data("http", "https")
+    def test_allowed_img_tag(self, protocol):
+        raw_body = '<img src="{protocol}://foo" width="111" height="222" alt="bar" title="baz">'.format(
+            protocol=protocol
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), _add_p_tags(raw_body))
+
+    def test_disallowed_img_tag(self):
+        raw_body = '<img src="gopher://foo">'
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), "<p></p>")
+
+    def test_script_tag(self):
+        raw_body = '<script type="text/javascript">alert("evil script");</script>'
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), 'alert("evil script");')
+
+    @ddt.data("p", "br", "li", "hr")  # img is tested above
+    def test_allowed_unpaired_tags(self, tag):
+        raw_body = "foo<{tag}>bar".format(tag=tag)
+        self.assertEqual(render_body(raw_body), _add_p_tags(raw_body))
+
+    def test_unpaired_start_tag(self):
+        self.assertEqual(render_body("foo<i>bar"), "<p>foobar</p>")
+
+    def test_unpaired_end_tag(self):
+        self.assertEqual(render_body("foo</i>bar"), "<p>foobar</p>")
+
+    def test_interleaved_tags(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            render_body("foo<i>bar<b>baz</i>quux</b>greg"),
+            "<p>foo<i>barbaz</i>quuxgreg</p>"
+        )
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_serializers.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_serializers.py
index 3d704b405e..813119d8f6 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_serializers.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_serializers.py
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ class ThreadSerializerSerializationTest(SerializerTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Test Title",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "pinned": True,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -281,6 +282,7 @@ class CommentSerializerTest(SerializerTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
             "created_at": "2015-04-28T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-04-28T11:11:11Z",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_views.py b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_views.py
index bd817ecb0b..8bdaa6f2a6 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/discussion_api/tests/test_views.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ class ThreadViewSetListTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Test Title",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "pinned": False,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -303,6 +304,7 @@ class ThreadViewSetCreateTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Test Title",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "pinned": False,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -392,6 +394,7 @@ class ThreadViewSetPartialUpdateTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTest
             "type": "discussion",
             "title": "Original Title",
             "raw_body": "Edited body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Edited body</p>",
             "pinned": False,
             "closed": False,
             "following": False,
@@ -536,6 +539,7 @@ class CommentViewSetListTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
             "created_at": "2015-05-11T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-05-11T11:11:11Z",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,
@@ -688,6 +692,7 @@ class CommentViewSetCreateTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
             "created_at": "2015-05-27T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-05-27T00:00:00Z",
             "raw_body": "Test body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Test body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,
@@ -770,6 +775,7 @@ class CommentViewSetPartialUpdateTest(DiscussionAPIViewTestMixin, ModuleStoreTes
             "created_at": "2015-06-03T00:00:00Z",
             "updated_at": "2015-06-03T00:00:00Z",
             "raw_body": "Edited body",
+            "rendered_body": "<p>Edited body</p>",
             "endorsed": False,
             "endorsed_by": None,
             "endorsed_by_label": None,