I thank Richard Weikart for his comments; he quotes me
as having written:

>> Nothing is gained, and I think much is lost, by demonizing
>> Nietzsche. He was human, as are we, - and it can be argued
>> that the clarity with which he saw the faults of German culture
>> in the second half of the nineteenth century was an apparition
>> with which he could not cope.

Richard Weikart replied:

> Clarity?  Nietzsche was not just criticizing "German culture," he was in./
> complete rebellion against God, declaring not only the death of God, but 
> the end of Judeo-Christian ethics.  He despised compassion, pity, 
> equality, democracy, women, weakness, meekness--in short, everything 
> that Jesus Christ stood for.  He supported elitism, strength, domination 
> of the weak, and war.
> 
> Fortunately, Bonhoeffer upheld many aspects of Judeo-Christian ethics, 
> including its sexual morality (no extra-marital relations) and its 
> respect for life (opposing euthanasia and abortion).  Unfortunately, 
> Bonhoeffer founded his ethics on shaky grounds partly influenced by 
> Nietzsche.

I apologize for the murkiness of my style. I defined "clarity" as an
"apparition". That is a stylistic blunder for which Nietzsche would
have severely censured me. What I should have said is that Nietzsche
was offended by the complacency, self-satisfaction and self-righteousness
of the culture in which he lived, and his discontent extended to a
critical analysis of the Christian tradition in which that culture
was grounded. There has always been a dichotomy between what Christians
professed and what they practiced. Nietzsche in effect says to
Christianity, 'If you do not practice what you preach, then at least
preach what you practice.' Two thousand years of ecclesiastical
history document the extent to which Christendom - I borrow Richard
Weickart's words, - "despised compassion, pity, equality, democracy,
women, weakness, meekness-- in short, everything that Jesus Christ stood
for. (It) supported elitism, strength, domination of the weak, and war."
The reason that pious Christians are so horrified by Nietzsche
is that he holds up to them a mirror in which they see themselves
as they truly are and as they have always been. Perhaps it is a
reflection of Bonhoeffer's purity of heart that he, for one, was
not frightened.

Consequently Bonhoeffer's interpretation of Nietzsche is diametrically
opposed to our own when he writes that Nietzsche has unwittingly
spoken in the spirit of the New Testament:

     Nietzsche hat ohne es zu wissen im Geiste des Neuen Testaments
     gesprochen, wenn er gegen das gesetzlich-philisterhafte 
     Miszverstaendnis des Gebotes der Naechstenliebe mit den Worten
     angeht: "Ihr draengt euch um den Naechsten und habt schoene
     Worte dafuer. Aber ich sage euch: eure Naechstenliebe ist eure
     schlechte Liebe zu euch selber. Ihr fluechtet zum Naechsten
     vor euch selbst und moechtet eine Tugend daraus machen: aber ich
     durchschaue euer 'Selbstloses' ... Rathe ich euch zur Naechstenliebe?
     Lieber noch rathe ich euch zur Naechsten-Flucht und zur Fernsten-
     Liebe." Hinter dem Naechsten, den uns der Ruf Jesu anbefiehlt, 
     steht auch fuer Jesus der Fernste, naemlich Jesus Christus selbst.
     Wer hinter dem Naechsten nicht diesen Fernsten weisz und diesen
     Fernsten zugleich als diesen Naechsten, der dient nicht dem Naechsten,
     sondern sich selbst, der fluechtet sich aus der freien Luft der
     Verantwortung in die enge bequemerer Pflichterfuellung.

                                        Bonhoeffer, Ethik, 295-296

Ernst Meyer