diff --git a/config/config_test.go b/config/config_test.go
index 88dbdc6c5..2c9791877 100644
--- a/config/config_test.go
+++ b/config/config_test.go
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ func TestVariableDefaultsMap(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func testConfig(t *testing.T, name string) *Config {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, name, "main.tf"))
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, name, "main.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("file: %s\n\nerr: %s", name, err)
 	}
diff --git a/config/loader.go b/config/loader.go
index 1848f314d..4f5d8e765 100644
--- a/config/loader.go
+++ b/config/loader.go
@@ -1,19 +1,41 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl"
 )
 
-// Load loads the Terraform configuration from a given file.
+// LoadJSON loads a single Terraform configuration from a given JSON document.
+//
+// The document must be a complete Terraform configuration. This function will
+// NOT try to load any additional modules so only the given document is loaded.
+func LoadJSON(raw json.RawMessage) (*Config, error) {
+	obj, err := hcl.Parse(string(raw))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
+			"Error parsing JSON document as HCL: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	// Start building the result
+	hclConfig := &hclConfigurable{
+		Object: obj,
+	}
+
+	return hclConfig.Config()
+}
+
+// LoadFile loads the Terraform configuration from a given file.
 //
 // This file can be any format that Terraform recognizes, and import any
 // other format that Terraform recognizes.
-func Load(path string) (*Config, error) {
+func LoadFile(path string) (*Config, error) {
 	importTree, err := loadTree(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -66,7 +88,7 @@ func LoadDir(root string) (*Config, error) {
 
 	// Load all the regular files, append them to each other.
 	for _, f := range files {
-		c, err := Load(f)
+		c, err := LoadFile(f)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -83,7 +105,7 @@ func LoadDir(root string) (*Config, error) {
 
 	// Load all the overrides, and merge them into the config
 	for _, f := range overrides {
-		c, err := Load(f)
+		c, err := LoadFile(f)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
diff --git a/config/loader_test.go b/config/loader_test.go
index d487638e9..28ee242f5 100644
--- a/config/loader_test.go
+++ b/config/loader_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
@@ -37,15 +38,15 @@ func TestIsEmptyDir_noConfigs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_badType(t *testing.T) {
-	_, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "bad_type.tf.nope"))
+func TestLoadFile_badType(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "bad_type.tf.nope"))
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("should have error")
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoadBasic(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "basic.tf"))
+func TestLoadFileBasic(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "basic.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -84,8 +85,8 @@ func TestLoadBasic(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoadBasic_empty(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "empty.tf"))
+func TestLoadFileBasic_empty(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "empty.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -95,11 +96,11 @@ func TestLoadBasic_empty(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoadBasic_import(t *testing.T) {
+func TestLoadFileBasic_import(t *testing.T) {
 	// Skip because we disabled importing
 	t.Skip()
 
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "import.tf"))
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "import.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -124,8 +125,8 @@ func TestLoadBasic_import(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoadBasic_json(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "basic.tf.json"))
+func TestLoadFileBasic_json(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "basic.tf.json"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -164,8 +165,8 @@ func TestLoadBasic_json(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoadBasic_modules(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "modules.tf"))
+func TestLoadFileBasic_modules(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "modules.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -184,8 +185,53 @@ func TestLoadBasic_modules(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_variables(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "variables.tf"))
+func TestLoadJSONBasic(t *testing.T) {
+	raw, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "basic.tf.json"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	c, err := LoadJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	if c == nil {
+		t.Fatal("config should not be nil")
+	}
+
+	if c.Dir != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", c.Dir)
+	}
+
+	expectedAtlas := &AtlasConfig{Name: "mitchellh/foo"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(c.Atlas, expectedAtlas) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", c.Atlas)
+	}
+
+	actual := variablesStr(c.Variables)
+	if actual != strings.TrimSpace(basicVariablesStr) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad:\n%s", actual)
+	}
+
+	actual = providerConfigsStr(c.ProviderConfigs)
+	if actual != strings.TrimSpace(basicProvidersStr) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad:\n%s", actual)
+	}
+
+	actual = resourcesStr(c.Resources)
+	if actual != strings.TrimSpace(basicResourcesStr) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad:\n%s", actual)
+	}
+
+	actual = outputsStr(c.Outputs)
+	if actual != strings.TrimSpace(basicOutputsStr) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad:\n%s", actual)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFile_variables(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "variables.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -303,8 +349,8 @@ func TestLoadDir_override(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_provisioners(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "provisioners.tf"))
+func TestLoadFile_provisioners(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "provisioners.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -319,8 +365,8 @@ func TestLoad_provisioners(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_connections(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "connection.tf"))
+func TestLoadFile_connections(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "connection.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -357,8 +403,8 @@ func TestLoad_connections(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_createBeforeDestroy(t *testing.T) {
-	c, err := Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "create-before-destroy.tf"))
+func TestLoadFile_createBeforeDestroy(t *testing.T) {
+	c, err := LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "create-before-destroy.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -394,7 +440,7 @@ func TestLoad_createBeforeDestroy(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestLoad_temporary_files(t *testing.T) {
+func TestLoadDir_temporary_files(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := LoadDir(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, "dir-temporary-files"))
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected to see an error stating no config files found")
diff --git a/terraform/terraform_test.go b/terraform/terraform_test.go
index e30d27a13..269df7298 100644
--- a/terraform/terraform_test.go
+++ b/terraform/terraform_test.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func tempEnv(t *testing.T, k string, v string) string {
 }
 
 func testConfig(t *testing.T, name string) *config.Config {
-	c, err := config.Load(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, name, "main.tf"))
+	c, err := config.LoadFile(filepath.Join(fixtureDir, name, "main.tf"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}