彼はその委員会のメンバーになるようにと依頼を受けてきてきた。
This sentence translation is given as: He has been asked to sit on the committee.
Can anyone explain why と is used in here?
This その委員会のメンバーになるように is the content of the request (依頼{いらい}). This could be even clearer if it's メンバーになるようにという依頼を受けてきた.
Without the と, it becomes unclear.
彼はその委員会のメンバーになるように 依頼を受けてきていた。
The ように starts to sound like ために or なれるように. It's vague and hard to process, but could sound like the becoming the member is not the content of the request but is his reason why he's received the request.
The phrase その委員会のメンバーになるようにと(いう)should be taken as an appositive to 依頼, not the reason of receiving the request.
I find if it's なれるようにと依頼を受けてきた, the content of quotation becomes a wish, and because of the nature of wish, it works with or without と; it can be expressed as either the reason or the content of the wish.
受けてきてきた
Is it not 受けてきていた or something? – Chocolate♦ Jul 21 '17 at 16:22