  This paper has a dual purpose. One aim is to study the evolution of coherent
states in ordinary quantum mechanics. This is done by means of a Hamiltonian
approach to the evolution of the parameters that define the state. The
stability of the solutions is studied. The second aim is to apply these
techniques to the study of the stability of minisuperspace solutions in field
theory. For a $\lambda \varphi^4$ theory we show, both by means of perturbation
theory and rigorously by means of theorems of the K.A.M. type, that the
homogeneous minisuperspace sector is indeed stable for positive values of the
parameters that define the field theory.
