It would be interesting to find instructions on this from the Church fathers, scholastics, Protestant reformers, confessors, etc. Does anyone know of a good book or article that has been written on this subject? It seems to me that this question of what is allowable between non-married persons would make a great dissertation topic.
Joe
Up to the mid-20th century this question probably would not have come up because people were so often put together in "arranged marriages" where one may not have met one's spouse until the day of the wedding or some short time before. So this issue would have been a non-issue. (One of my wife's aunts used to tell a funny story about being chased around the bedroom on the first three night of her wedding because she didn't know what was supposed to go on and she was afraid. The third night he tripped her and she discovered that things weren't so bad. LOL)
The French Kiss is meant, as noted above, to cause arousal in both parties so it's fire.
BOB
