What with Poe's, Darwin's and Lincoln's 200th birthdays, Americans just haven't focused on the opportunity provided by John Calvin's 500th anniversary, coming up in July. Good thing that the Dutch are taking the lead on planning the festivities. But, what sort of festivities does one plan for John Calvin? Either one doesn't see much reason to celebrate him or one doesn't celebrate much at all. It's a conundrum. A Dutch colleague sent me news about the anti-celebration commemoration. It was drawn by an artist named Kamagurka and published in the NRC Handlesblad (a Rotterdam newspaper) on January 15th of this year.
That's John Calvin above, wearing his usual hat. The text is in Dutch. (It's always been a bit of an embarrassment to some people that Calvin didn't speak Dutch; his Frenchness was an historical accident.) As stern as ever, here's what he says: "Above all else, don't celebrate!"
English-speaking world: you heard it here first.
Apologies for any copyright infringements. It was too good not to steal. My depravity made me do it.
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