Perform a linguistic analysis:

What language is the text written in? Is it prose or poetry? What are the distinctive features of the language?

For example, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are written in ancient Greek. They are poems. Plato’s Apology is written in ancient Greek, too, but it is prose. Tolkien composed The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in English prose of a high yet accessible epic style.

Perform a structural analysis:

How is the text organized? What are the major sections of the work? If it’s a narrative, what are the significant plot points?

For example, Homer’s Odyssey is separated into 24 “books,” which are really like chapters. Books 1—12 take place away from Odysseus’ home. Books 13—24 take place at Odysseus’ home. Further, we call Books 1—4 the Telemachy because they feature Telemachus traveling to hear news of Odysseus … Etc.

Perform a theological analysis:

What are the distinctive features of God in this work? What sets him, her, or them apart from other beings? What defines God’s relationship with human beings, the world, and other beings?

For example, in Genesis God speaks the world into existence. He possesses a moral and aesthetic sense, seen in his pronouncement that such and such of his creations are “good,” humans beings are “very good,” and there is a tree that is somehow of “good and evil.” …

Perform an anthropological analysis:

What are the distinctive features of human beings in this work? What sets them apart from other beings? What is human nature here?

For example, in Genesis God himself actually creates human beings in his image, hence the Latin phrase imago dei. Here’s what it seems to mean for human beings to be made in the image of God from that text…

Perform an ethical analysis:

What are the ethical rules in this work? Where is choice, and where is necessity? What are the ethical implications for your life?

For example, in Exodus we read about God’s revelation for Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. At one point, God writes commandments with his finger on stone, and Moses takes them down to the people…

For example, there are no laws, constitutions, or public institutions of justice whatsoever in the Iliad and the Odyssey. This brings out the importance of personal relationships, and the virtue and vice of the powerful…