  This series of three lectures covers (a) a basic introduction to symmetry
breaking in general and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD, (b) an overview of the
present status of lattice data and the knowlegde that we have at finite
temperature from chiral perturbation theory. (c) Results obtained from the
Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model describing static mesonic properties are discussed as
well as the bulk thermodynamic quantities. Divergences that are observed in the
elastic quark-antiquark scattering cross-section, reminiscent of the phenomenon
of critical opalescence in light scattering, is also discussed. (d) Finally, we
deal with the realm of systems out of equilibrium, and examine the effects of a
medium dependent condensate in a system of interacting quarks.
