 However, more recent scholarship, particularly the work of Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Richard Sharpe, has offered a more nuanced view of the interrelationships between the monastic system and the traditional Church structures.Sharpe argues that there is no evidence that the "paruchia" overrode the diocese, or that the abbot replaced the Bishop; Bishops still exercised ultimate spiritual authority and remained in charge of the diocesan clergy.But either way, the monastic ideal was regarded as the utmost expression of the Christian life.