The functional integral computation of the various topological invariants, which are associated with the Chern-Simons field theory, is considered. The standard perturbative setting in quantum field theory is rewieved and new developments in the path-integral approach, based on the Deligne-Beilinson cohomology, are described in the case of the abelian U (1) Chern-Simons field theory formulated in S 1 × S 2 .Talk given at the workshop Chern-Simons Gauge theory: 20 years after, Bonn