In Rabelais' major work Gargantua and Panatagruel he recounts the adventures of a father and son (who are the last of a race of giants). Through his work, he was perceived by more conservative thinkers of the time as ridiculing many of the prevailing ideas of the day in many diverse subjects most important of which was religion.
Like Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) he would dedicate a great portion of his life to a philosophical orientation in which sought to lampoon prevailing French Idea's concerning morals, education, religion, and government. Both are influential characters of the early French humanistic movement which transcended many areas of life including art, literature, and religion.
He is what could be called a pioneer in satirical literature. This unique style of his philosophy is one which became the enlightened ideals of the humanistic form which came to spread through all Europe. His highly unorthodox writing style for the time in which he lived was considered heretical but he was by no means neglected as he was published up until the death of the "enlightened" monarch Francis I of France.