We consider the Hamiltonian dynamics and thermodynamics of spherically
symmetric Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant. We
impose boundary conditions that enforce every classical solution to be an
exterior region of a Reissner-Nordstr\"om-anti-de Sitter black hole with a
nondegenerate Killing horizon, with the spacelike hypersurfaces extending from
the horizon bifurcation two-sphere to the asymptotically anti-de Sitter
infinity. The constraints are simplified by a canonical transformation, which
generalizes that given by Kucha\v{r} in the spherically symmetric vacuum
Einstein theory, and the theory is reduced to its true dynamical degrees of
freedom. After quantization, the grand partition function of a thermodynamical
grand canonical ensemble is obtained by analytically continuing the Lorentzian
time evolution operator to imaginary time and taking the trace. A~similar
analysis under slightly modified boundary conditions leads to the partition
function of a thermodynamical canonical ensemble. The thermodynamics in each
ensemble is analyzed, and the conditions that the (grand) partition function be
dominated by a classical Euclidean black hole solution are found. When these
conditions are satisfied, we recover in particular the Bekenstein-Hawking
entropy. The limit of a vanishing cosmological constant is briefly discussed.
(This paper is dedicated to Karel Kucha\v{r} on the occasion of his sixtieth
birthday.)Comment: 34 pages, REVTeX v3.0. (Minor corrections and presentational
revisions; added references.