[Zope] Converting List properties in DTML Documents to python lists

Is there an API call in Zope that takes the contents of a lines property (such as in a DTML Document) and returns a python list? I couldn't find one. In the alternative, does anyone have a code snippet for converting the contents of a lines property into a list (or appending it to an existing list? I want to write a python function that returns a list of the contents of a DTML Docments lines property. Thanks in advance, Ron