code: public Date getAttributeAsDate(String attrName, String dateTimeFormat) {
          Lock lock = lockForRead();
          try {
              return MapUtils.getDate(attributes, attrName, dateTimeFormat);
          } finally {
              lock.unlock();
          }
      }
docs: Get a BO's attribute as a date. If the attribute value is a string, parse
  it as a {@link Date} using the specified date-time format.
  
  @param attrName
  @param dateTimeFormat
  @return
  @since 0.8.0