《無產者耶穌傳》是朱維之最具政治意味的一本著作，1949年以後的政治現實埋沒了這一本最具有解放神學或基督教社會主義色彩的作品。對這本書的陌生，不只影響到我們評價朱維之，也影響到我們對1949年以前中國基督教社會主義的革命思想，尤其是究竟是在何種社會文化氛圍之中，對基督教或聖經產生何種理解上的改變。不同於趙紫宸那本富於太多神學色彩的《耶穌傳》，朱維之的《無產者耶穌傳》總結了那個時代具革命精神的基督教思想和潮流，可與張仕章的《革命的木匠》、謝扶雅的《被壓迫者的福音》並列為中國基督教社會主義「耶穌傳」的三大代表作。

Touching on many of the issues central to liberation theology and Christian socialism, W. T. Chu’s (Zhu Weizhi 朱維之, 1905–99). The Proletarian Jesus is full of political implications, for which reason it has received little notice in Communist China. However, this little-known book has major implications for our understanding and evaluation of Chu himself. It also has implications for our understanding of Christian socialism in pre-Communist China, especially the social and cultural milieu in which it developed and its influence on how Christians of the time understood the Bible. This paper discusses how Chu applies the Marxist perspective to his portrayal of Jesus, as well as his ideas on how Christianity was misappropriated into a tool of capitalist and imperialist aggression. Also covered in this paper are the reasons why this portrayal of Jesus as a liberator of the oppressed was published in 1950’ China, only to fall into obscurity soon thereafter.