  We present a systematic semiclassical procedure to compute the partition
function for scalar field theories at finite temperature. The central objects
in our scheme are the solutions of the classical equations of motion in
imaginary time, with spatially independent boundary conditions. Field
fluctuations -- both field deviations around these classical solutions, and
fluctuations of the boundary value of the fields -- are resummed in a Gaussian
approximation. In our final expression for the partition function, this
resummation is reduced to solving certain ordinary differential equations.
Moreover, we show that it is renormalizable with the usual 1-loop counterterms.
