diff --git a/docs/templates.md b/docs/templates.md
index 39f989d2e..749c7a8c2 100644
--- a/docs/templates.md
+++ b/docs/templates.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Starlette is not *strictly* coupled to any particular templating engine, but
+Starlette is not _strictly_ coupled to any particular templating engine, but
 Jinja2 provides an excellent choice.
 
 Starlette provides a simple way to get `jinja2` configured. This is probably
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ so we can correctly hyperlink to other pages within the application.
 For example, we can link to static files from within our HTML templates:
 
 ```html
-<link href="{{ url_for('static', path='/css/bootstrap.min.css') }}" rel="stylesheet">
+<link href="{{ url_for('static', path='/css/bootstrap.min.css') }}" rel="stylesheet" />
 ```
 
 If you want to use [custom filters][jinja2], you will need to update the `env`
@@ -50,6 +50,42 @@ templates = Jinja2Templates(directory='templates')
 templates.env.filters['marked'] = marked_filter
 ```
 
+## Context processors
+
+A context processor is a function that returns a dictionary to be merged into a template context.
+Every function takes only one argument `request` and must return a dictionary to add to the context.
+
+A common use case of template processors is to extend the template context with shared variables.
+
+```python
+import typing
+from starlette.requests import Request
+
+def app_context(request: Request) -> typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]:
+    return {'app': request.app}
+```
+
+### Registering context templates
+
+Pass context processors to `context_processors` argument of the `Jinja2Templates` class.
+
+```python
+import typing
+
+from starlette.requests import Request
+from starlette.templating import Jinja2Templates
+
+def app_context(request: Request) -> typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]:
+    return {'app': request.app}
+
+templates = Jinja2Templates(
+    directory='templates', context_processors=[app_context]
+)
+```
+
+!!! info
+    Asynchronous functions as context processors are not supported.
+
 ## Testing template responses
 
 When using the test client, template responses include `.template` and `.context`
diff --git a/starlette/templating.py b/starlette/templating.py
index a36c264ed..da340f569 100644
--- a/starlette/templating.py
+++ b/starlette/templating.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from os import PathLike
 
 from starlette.background import BackgroundTask
+from starlette.requests import Request
 from starlette.responses import Response
 from starlette.types import Receive, Scope, Send
 
@@ -59,10 +60,16 @@ class Jinja2Templates:
     """
 
     def __init__(
-        self, directory: typing.Union[str, PathLike], **env_options: typing.Any
+        self,
+        directory: typing.Union[str, PathLike],
+        context_processors: typing.Optional[
+            typing.List[typing.Callable[[Request], typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]]]
+        ] = None,
+        **env_options: typing.Any
     ) -> None:
         assert jinja2 is not None, "jinja2 must be installed to use Jinja2Templates"
         self.env = self._create_env(directory, **env_options)
+        self.context_processors = context_processors or []
 
     def _create_env(
         self, directory: typing.Union[str, PathLike], **env_options: typing.Any
@@ -94,6 +101,11 @@ def TemplateResponse(
     ) -> _TemplateResponse:
         if "request" not in context:
             raise ValueError('context must include a "request" key')
+
+        request = typing.cast(Request, context["request"])
+        for context_processor in self.context_processors:
+            context.update(context_processor(request))
+
         template = self.get_template(name)
         return _TemplateResponse(
             template,
diff --git a/tests/test_templates.py b/tests/test_templates.py
index ad42488de..0bf4bce07 100644
--- a/tests/test_templates.py
+++ b/tests/test_templates.py
@@ -32,3 +32,31 @@ def test_template_response_requires_request(tmpdir):
     templates = Jinja2Templates(str(tmpdir))
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         templates.TemplateResponse("", {})
+
+
+def test_calls_context_processors(tmp_path, test_client_factory):
+    path = tmp_path / "index.html"
+    path.write_text("<html>Hello {{ username }}</html>")
+
+    async def homepage(request):
+        return templates.TemplateResponse("index.html", {"request": request})
+
+    def hello_world_processor(request):
+        return {"username": "World"}
+
+    app = Starlette(
+        debug=True,
+        routes=[Route("/", endpoint=homepage)],
+    )
+    templates = Jinja2Templates(
+        directory=tmp_path,
+        context_processors=[
+            hello_world_processor,
+        ],
+    )
+
+    client = test_client_factory(app)
+    response = client.get("/")
+    assert response.text == "<html>Hello World</html>"
+    assert response.template.name == "index.html"
+    assert set(response.context.keys()) == {"request", "username"}